page_title: Indus River
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Indus River / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Satellite image of the en:Indus River basin. Red dots indicate fires. International boundaries are superimposed; the boundary through en:Jammu and Kashmir reflects the en:Line of Control. Agricultural burning is occurring in Northwest India (usually at right) and Pakistan (at left )near the Indus River in October 2002. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite detected numerous fires (red dots) burning just east of India’s border with Pakistan (upper left quadrant). The haze in the area is probably not solely due to the fires, however; some of it is likely urban air pollution from several large cities in the region. In the upper right quadrant, the foothills of the Himalayas are deep green, and the peaks are dusted with snow and capped by clouds.
context_page_description: The Indus River is one of the longest rivers in Asia. It flows through China, India and Pakistan. Originating in the Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of India, towards Gilgit-Baltistan and then flows in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh. It is the longest river of Pakistan.
  The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km². Its estimated annual flow stands at around 243 km³, twice that of the Nile River and three times that of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers combined, making it one of the largest rivers in the world in terms of annual flow. The Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left bank tributary is the Panjnad which itself has five major tributaries, namely, the Chenab, Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej. Its principal right bank tributaries are the Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal, and the Kurram.
context_section_description: The Indus River provides key water resources for Pakistan's economy – especially the breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. The word Punjab means "land of five rivers" and the five rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, all of which finally flow into the Indus. The Indus also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan.
  The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet; the river begins at the confluence of the Sengge Zangbo and Gar Tsangpo rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan (Gang Rinpoche, Mt. Kailash) mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh, India, and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok, Shigar and Gilgit rivers carry glacial waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south and descends into the Punjab plains at Kalabagh, Pakistan. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4,500–5,200 metres (15,000–17,000 feet) deep near the Nanga Parbat massif. It flows swiftly across Hazara and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The Kabul River joins it near Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in the plains of the Punjab and Sindh, where the flow of the river becomes slow and highly braided. It is joined by the Panjnad at Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named the Satnad River (sat = "seven", nadī = "river"), as the river now carried the waters of the Kabul River, the Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the South of Thatta in the Sindh province of Pakistan
  The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world to exhibit a tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges of Tibet, the Indian states and union territories of Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh and the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons – it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times – it deviated westwards from flowing into the Rann of Kutch and adjoining Banni grasslands after the 1816 earthquake. Presently, Indus water flows in to the Rann of Kutch during its floods breaching flood banks.
  The traditional source of the river is the Sênggê Kanbab (a.k.a. Sênggê Zangbo, Senge Khabab) or "Lion's Mouth", a perennial spring, not far from the sacred Mount Kailash marked by a long low line of Tibetan chortens. There are several other tributaries nearby, which may possibly form a longer stream than Sênggê Kanbab, but unlike the Sênggê Kanbab, are all dependent on snowmelt. The Zanskar River, which flows into the Indus in Ladakh, has a greater volume of water than the Indus itself before that point.
caption: Satellite image of Indus River Basin
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