Pakistan

Introduction

The coastline of Pakistan is about 1,365 km long from the Iranian border eastward to the Indian border at the Rann of Cutch. Much of the coast has been influenced by the uplift of marine platforms and the Makran mountain ranges. The Las Bela Valley represents a structural trough forming part of the Owens Fracture Zone that extends southward under the Arabian Sea. Both the southeastern part of the Indus delta and the Rann of Cutch appear to be undergoing subsidence. The Pakistan coast shows evidence of sea level changes (Ali Khan et al. 2002) and is one of the most tectonically active regions in the world, with 20 recorded earthquakes between 1939 and 1960. The November 1945 earthquake was particularly severe: it generated a tsunami, reported to have been 12–15 m high, across the coast, and a section of the shore near Pasni was uplifted by 4.6 m.

This coastal region comprises long stretches of sandy beach backed by wide valleys or largely barren coastal plains. The...