| Pakistan: Geography |
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Pakistan
has a total area of 803,940 square kilometers, slightly greater than
France and the United Kingdom put together.
Pakistan is located in
South Asia. To the south is the Arabian Sea, with 1,046 km of Pakistani
coastline. To Pakistan's east is India, which has a 2,912 km border with
Pakistan To its west is Iran, which has a 909 km border with Pakistan. To
Pakistan's northwest lies Afghanistan, with a shared border of 2,430 km.
China is towards the northeast and has a 523 km border with
Pakistan.
The main waterway of Pakistan is the Indus
River that begins in China, and runs nearly the entire length of Pakistan,
flowing through all of Pakistan's provinces except Balochistan. is fed by
the combined waters of three of the five rivers of Punjab the Chenab,
Jhelum, and Ravi. The waters of the other two rivers, the Beas and the
Sutlej, are largely withdrawn for irrigation in India. Along the Indus and
its tributaries are found most of Pakistan's population, its chief
agricultural areas, and its major hydroelectric power stations,
interconnected by the world's largest system of agricultural canals, join
the Indus before it discharges into the Arabian Sea.
The northern and western areas of Pakistan are
mountainous. Pakistani administered areas of Kashmir contain some of the
highest mountains in the world, including the second tallest, K-2.
Northern Pakistan tends to receive more rainfall than the southern parts
of the country, and has some areas of preserved moist temperate forest. In
the southeast, Pakistan's border with India passes through a flat desert,
called the Cholistan or Thal Desert. West-central Balochistan has a high
desert plateau, bordered by low mountain ranges. Most of the Punjab, and
parts of Sindh, are fertile plains where agriculture is of great
importance.
Major Vegetative Zone :
• Permanent snow
fields & glaciers
• Dry alpine & cold desert zone
• Alpine
scrub & moist alpine
• Himalayan dry coniferous with ilex oak
•
Himalayan moist temperate forest
• Sub-tropical pine forest
•
Sub-tropical dry mixed deciduous scrub forest
• Balochistan Juniper
& pistachio scrub forest
• Dry sub-tropical and temperate
semi-evergreen scrub forest
• Tropical thorn forest & sand dune
desert
• Mangrove and littoral
• Sand dune
desert
Agro Ecological
zones include:
• Indus Delta
•
Southern irrigated plain
• Sandy deserts
• Northern irrigated
plains
• Rain-fed lands
• Wet mountains
• Northern dry
mountains
• Western dry mountains
• Dry western plateau
•
Sulaiman piedmont
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More
Update Geography
| Controls Khyber Pass and
Bolan Pass, traditional invasion routes between Central Asia and the
Indian Subcontinent. |
| Location: |
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian
Sea, between India on the east and Iran and Afghanistan on the west
and China in the north |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
30 00 N, 70 00 E |
| Area: |
total: 803,940 sq km
land: 778,720 sq km
water: 25,220 sq km
Size comparison: slightly less than twice the size
of California
|
| Land
Boundaries: |
total: 6,774 km
border countries: Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912
km, Iran 909 km |
| Coastline: |
1,046 km |
| Maritime
claims: |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
| Climate: |
mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in
northwest; arctic in north |
| Terrain: |
flat Indus plain in east; mountains in
north and northwest; Balochistan plateau in west |
| Elevation
extremes: |
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: K2 (Mt. Godwin-Austen) 8,611 m |
| Natural
resources: |
land, extensive natural gas reserves,
limited petroleum, poor quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt,
limestone |
| Land
use: |
arable land: 24.44%
permanent crops: 0.84%
other: 74.72% (2005) |
| Irrigated
land: |
182,300 sq km (2003) |
| Natural
hazards: |
frequent earthquakes, occasionally
severe especially in north and west; flooding along the Indus after
heavy rains (July and August) |
| Current
Environment Issues: |
water pollution from raw sewage,
industrial wastes, and agricultural runoff; limited natural fresh
water resources; most of the population does not have access to
potable water; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification |
| International
Environment Agreements: |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the
Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation |
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