The southern part of Punjab and most part of Sindh is called lower Indus plain.
The word Indus is derived from Sanskrit word ‘Sindhu’ which means ocean. The words Sindh, India and Hindu also come from the same word. River Indus is one of the world’s great rivers. Almost all of the major rivers of Pakistan flows into Indus. River Indus Basin is a large and very fertile plain formed from the River Indus silt. This area has a 5,000 years old civilization with agriculture as the main source of income. The main parts of the Indus Plain includes Upper Indus and Lower Indus Plain.
The upper side of the Indus basin includes the Province of Punjab and the Lower Basin starts at the confluence of the eastern tributaries extending south wards to the coast. The high area of the indus Plain is known as the Potohar Plateau located close to the foot hills of Himalaya mountains. There are four deserts in the Indus Plain namely Thal, Thar, Indus Valley and Cholistan.
a. Upper Indus Plain:
There is a vast plain located on the east of Kirthar and Sulaiman mountain ranges and south of Salt range extending up to the Arabian Sea. River Indus and its tributaries irrigates this area including River Sutlej, Ravi, Jehlum and Chenab. These tributaries meet the great Indus at Mithan Kot and on its south lies the Lower Indus Plain and on the north is the Upper Indus plain. The upper portion of River Indus is very fertile despite the fact that there is few rainfalls in this area, mainly because it comprises of the soil brouth by the rivers. Long chain of canals are spread in this area which help produce a good quantity of crops. This canal system is one of a kind in the world. There are few hills of low heights seen around Chiniot, Sangla and Sarghoda.
Thal desert lies on the west of River Jehlum which used to be an arid area. But due to intense irrigation by the canals coming from the Jinnah Barrage this desert produce lots of crops. There are many Doabas including Ban Doab, Sagar Doab, Singh Doab in the District Sahiwal and Multan. A large part of this huge desert is populated only beause of this irrigation system which is turn help produce different types of crops. The plain becomes higher and higher and this raised part is known as Daras. The plains of Peshawar and Bannu are also very fertile which lies in the north of Daras. This is also due to canal system of irrigation and tube wells. Many crops are grown in this region including; rice, wheat, cotton, sugar cane, oil seeds and tobacco