Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 6
In the Indus Delta it is No More the
Mighty Indus
Muhammad Zafar Khan
1,2
and Ghulam Akbar
1
1
WWF Pakistan, Shahrah-e-Faisal Karachi, Pakistan
2
Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan
The mighty Indus River:
at a glance
the total land area of 80 million hectares (ha), 21
million ha are cultivated - of which 18 million
ha are irrigated. About 12 million ha of Pakistan's
irrigated land lies within the Indus River system
(Bengali, 2009).
The Indus River is one of the world's longest rivers
with a length of 2880 km (Gopal, 2000). The river
basin spans parts of four countries (Afghanistan,
China, India and Pakistan), stretching from the
Himalayan mountains in the north to the alluvial
plain of Sindh in the south. Almost 90% of the
water in the upper portion of the river basin comes
from glaciers located in the Himalaya, Karakoram
and Hindukush mountain ranges (IUCN, 2003).
The size of the Indus basin is 1 081 788 km
2
(WRI,
2003) and the river travels southwards across the
Punjab and Sindh Provinces in Pakistan before
entering the Arabian Sea through a delta close
to the border with India (Figure 6.1). The total
available freshwater flow in the Indus is about 180
billion m
3
, carrying with it some 400 million tons
(363
×
10
6
t) of silt (Meynell and Qureshi, 1993).
The Indus River is critical for Pakistan's 165
million people. The economy of the country
depends heavily on the productivity of its
resources, and water in particular. The agricultural
sector uses up to 90% of Pakistan's total water
resources, produces one-fifth of its gross domestic
product (GDP), contributes to more than half of
its exports, and employs half the labour force. The
agricultural economy is predominantly irrigated. Of
Significance of the Indus Delta
The Indus Fan is one of the largest sediment bodies
in the modern ocean basins and the geological
and geophysical information obtained from the
Pakistan margin suggests that the Indus River and
Fan system dates from a period shortly after the
India-Asia collision at
55 Ma (Clift
et al
., 2002).
The Indus Delta located in Sindh Province is a
landmark of Pakistan's coastline extending up to
150 km along the Arabian Sea, built up by the
discharge of large quantities of silt washed down
from upland and mountain areas. It is said to be
the fifth largest delta system in the world and
has the seventh largest mangrove forest system
(WWF, 2010). The present delta covers an area
of about 600 000 ha and is characterized by 17
major creeks and innumerable minor creeks, mud
flats and fringing mangroves (Meynell and Qureshi,
1993). Thatta and Badin are the principal districts
of the Indus delta with an estimated population of
2.3 million. (WWF - Pakistan, 2007) (Plate 8).
∼
