The Diverse Terrain Of Afghanistan: Exploring The Existence Of Plains

Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, known for its mountainous terrain. The Hindu Kush mountain range forms a barrier between the Northern provinces and the rest of the country, dividing Afghanistan into three distinct geographic regions: The Central Highlands, The Northern Plains, and the Southwestern Plateau. The Northern Plains, which extend eastward from the Iranian border to the foothills of the Pamirs, cover an area of about 40,000 square miles (103,000 square km) of plains and fertile foothills. The region is part of the much larger Central Asian Steppe and has an average elevation of about 2,000 feet (600 metres). The Northern Plains are densely populated and intensively cultivated, with fertile soils and rich mineral resources, particularly natural gas deposits.

The Northern Plains

Afghanistan is a landlocked country located in South-Central Asia. It is predominantly mountainous, with the huge Hindu Kush mountains forming a barrier between the Northern provinces and the rest of the country. The Hindu Kush mountain range has also divided Afghanistan into three distinct geographic regions: The Central Highlands, The Northern Plains, and the Southwestern Plateau.

The Central Highlands

Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia, known for its mountainous terrain. The Hindu Kush mountains, a part of the Himalayan chain, divide the country into three distinct geographic regions: the Central Highlands, the Northern Plains, and the Southwestern Plateau.

The climate in the Central Highlands is typically dry, with summer temperatures averaging around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, while winters are extremely cold, with temperatures dropping to as low as 30 degrees Celsius. The soil in this region varies from desert-steppe to meadow-steppe types. The Central Highlands experience little rainfall, with most precipitation falling in the form of snow.

The Southwestern Plateau

Several large rivers cross the Southwestern Plateau, including the Helmand River and its major tributary, the Arghandāb. The Helmand is about 1,300 km long and drains about 40% of Afghanistan's land area. Classical and modern irrigation works along it and its tributaries attest to its importance in agriculture. The river flows generally south-westerly until it empties into the marshes of the Sīstān basin on the Iranian border, where it is lost to evaporation. Overflow from it and other related rivers, together with the drying up of Pleistocene lakes, has produced numerous salt flats such as Gowd-e Zereh.

The Hindu Kush Mountain Range

The Hindu Kush is one of the great watersheds of Central Asia, forming part of the vast Alpine zone that stretches across Eurasia from east to west. It runs northeast to southwest and divides the valley of the Amu Darya (the ancient Oxus River) to the north from the Indus River valley to the south. The range has numerous high snow-capped peaks, with the highest point being Tirich Mir at 7,708m.

The Hindu Kush is heavily populated, with valleys that are heavily irrigated. The residents also have to contend with earthquakes, as the Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates continue to push against each other. This constant pressure and grinding create an average of four major earthquakes a year.

The Hindu Kush is typically divided into three sections. The eastern section spans from the Karambar Pass to the Dorāh Pass near Tirich Mir. The mountains are rounded and dome-like at the eastern reaches but become increasingly jagged and prominent further west into the central zone. The central section extends from the Dorāh Pass to the Shebar Pass northwest of Kabul. The western section, sometimes called the Bābā Mountains, drops into the Kermū Pass.

The Hindu Kush's high mountain passes, called "kotals," have allowed the flow of military might, goods, and culture between central and south Asia for more than 1,000 years. Invaders from Central Asia brought their Indo-European language—a forerunner of the Indo-Iranian languages spoken throughout the region today—through the Hindu Kush passes around 1500 BCE. The passes have also been of great military significance, providing access to the northern plains of India for conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and Timur.

The Hindu Kush is the headwaters of several rivers, including the Amu Darya (Oxus), Panj, Kabul, and Swat Rivers. The range is bounded to the south by a right lateral strike-slip fault, the Heart Fault, but the northern margin is less well-defined. The eastern Hindu Kush appears to be formed of two parallel mountain chains, consisting of a lower northern chain that acts as a watershed and a higher southern chain that carries the main peaks.

The Hindu Kush separates one major climate zone of Asia from another, so the range's climate shows great variations. The central and western Hindu Kush border the Mediterranean climatic zone, characterized by hot, dry summers and cold, wet or snowy winters. The eastern Hindu Kush, as well as the Hindu Raj, rises at the extreme western limit of monsoonal Asia and experiences rainy or snowy summers and dry winters.

The Hindu Kush is the source of much natural resource extraction, including the mining of lapis lazuli, beryl, and coal. Natural gas is extracted from the northern plains along the western Hindu Kush, and iron ore is present in some areas.

The Southern Plateau

The Southwestern Plateau, also known as the Southern Plateau, is one of the three distinct geographic regions of Afghanistan. Covering about 50,000 square miles, the region is made up of high plateaus and sandy deserts. The soil here is very infertile, except along the rivers in the southwest, such as the Helmand River. The average altitude of this area is about 3,000 feet. The region experiences a dry and mild climate, with Kandahar, lying at an elevation of about 3,500 feet, enjoying temperatures of around 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. Sandstorms are not unusual in the deserts and arid plains of this region.

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