Indus Basin

The Indus basin is the part of Asia drained by the Indus river and its tributaries. The basin covers an area of 1,120,000 km² (430,000 sq mi) traversing four countries: Afghanistan, China, India and Pakistan, with most of the area lying predominantly in the latter two.

The Indus basin

Geography

The Indus river has two main tributaries: the Panjnad—formed by successive confluences of Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum and Chenab rivers—and the Kabul, containing the waters of rivers Swat, Kunar and others. The Indus and Satluj originate on the Tibetan Plateau, the Ravi, Beas, Chenab and Jhelum originate in the Indian western Himalayas, and the Kabul and its tributaries originate in the Hindu Kush of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

The Indus basin lies in four countries: Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan. The largest portion of the basin, at 47%, lies in Pakistan while India contains the second biggest share at 39%. China and Afghanistan contain the remaining 14%. The Indus basin spans the length of Pakistan, constitutes a majority (65%) of its area and forms part of all provinces and territories of the country: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, with all except Sindh and Balochistan located entirely within the basin. In India, the Indus basin forms less than 14% of the territory and makes up the northwestern part of the country including the states and union territories of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Haryana and Rajasthan, constituting the whole or major portion of all of them except for the last.

The Indus basin consists of various topographical regions. A large part of the drainage basin is mountainous, and around 40% of the its area lies above an elevation of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The basin can be divided into two wide physiographic divisions: the upper basin consisting of the mountainous regions of the Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Shivalik, Suleiman and Kirthar ranges; and the lower basin consisting of the Indus plains including the alluvial plains of the Punjab region and Sindh. Most of the basin is arid or semi-arid, with the exception of the Himalayan foothills which receive significant rainfall.

References

Bibliography

• Khan, Sadiq I.; Adams III, Thomas E., eds. (2019), Indus River Basin: Water Security and Sustainability, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-12-812782-7
  • Cheema, MJM; Qamar, MU (2019), "Transboundary Indus River Basin: Potential Threats to Its Integrity", in Khan, Sadiq I.; Adams III, Thomas E. (eds.), Indus River Basin: Water Security and Sustainability, Elsevier, pp. 183–201, ISBN 978-0-12-812782-7
  • Shrestha, Arun Bhakta; Wagle, Nisha; Rajbhandari, Rupak (2019), "A Review on the Projected Changes in Climate Over the Indus Basin", in Khan, Sadiq I.; Adams III, Thomas E. (eds.), Indus River Basin: Water Security and Sustainability, Elsevier, pp. 145–158, ISBN 978-0-12-812782-7
• Laghari, A. I.; Vanham, D.; Rauch, W. (2012). "The Indus basin in the framework of current and future water resources management" (PDF). Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 16: 1063–1083. doi:10.5194/hess-16-1063-2012.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
• Shrestha, AB; Agrawal, NK; Alfthan, B; Bajracharya, SR; Maréchal, J; van Oort, B, eds. (2015). The Himalayan Climate and Water Atlas: Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in Five of Asia's Major River Basins. ICIMOD, GRID-Arendal and CICERO. ISBN 978-92-9115-357-2.