Editing Indus River (section)

==Geology==
[[File:Indus Nanga Parbat Himalayas from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.webm|right|thumb|280px|The Indus River in the foreground and the [[Nanga Parbat]] peak, the western [[Syntaxis (geology)|syntaxis]] of the Himalayas, far in the background, a little faint but towering well above the cloud layer{{efn|as seen from a plane approximately above the historic [[Sawal Dher]] village, in [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], Pakistan}}]]
[[File:Indus river near Leh.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|Indus River near [[Leh]], [[Ladakh]]]]
The Indus River is an [[Antecedent drainage stream|antecedent river]], meaning that it existed before the Himalayas and [[Entrenched river|entrenched itself]] while they were rising.

The Indus River feeds the Indus [[submarine fan]], which is the second largest sediment body on Earth.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Clift P, Gaedicke C, Edwards R, Lee JI, Hildebrand P, Amjad S, White RS, Schlüter HU |title=The stratigraphic evolution of the Indus Fan and the history of sedimentation in the Arabian Sea |year=2002 |journal=Marine Geophysical Researches |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=223–245 |doi=10.1023/A:1023627123093 |bibcode=2002MarGR..23..223C |s2cid=129735252 }}</ref> It consists of around 5 million cubic kilometers of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the [[Karakoram|Karakoram Mountains]] in northern Pakistan and India are the single most important source of material, with the Himalayas providing the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea has demonstrated that before five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these [[Punjab region|Punjab]] rivers which instead flowed east into the [[Ganges|Ganga]] and were captured after that time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clift |first=Peter D. |author2=Blusztajn, Jerzy |date=15 December 2005 |title=Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago |journal=Nature |volume=438 |pages=1001–1003 |doi=10.1038/nature04379 |pmid=16355221 |issue=7070 |bibcode=2005Natur.438.1001C |s2cid=4427250 }}</ref> Earlier work showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clift |first=Peter D. |author2=Shimizu, N. |author3=Layne, G.D. |author4=Blusztajn, J.S. |author5=Gaedicke, C. |author6=Schlüter, H.-U. |author7=Clark, M.K. |author8=Amjad, S. |author7-link=Marin Clark |date=August 2001 |title=Development of the Indus Fan and its significance for the erosional history of the Western Himalaya and Karakoram |journal=GSA Bulletin |volume=113 |issue=8 |pages=1039–1051 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1039:DOTIFA>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=2001GSAB..113.1039C }}</ref> The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the [[Katawaz Basin]], on the [[Durand Line|Afghan-Pakistan border]].

In the [[Nanga Parbat]] region, the massive amounts of erosion due to the Indus river following the capture and rerouting through that area are thought to bring middle and lower crustal rocks to the surface.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zeitler |first=Peter K. |author2=Koons, Peter O. |author3=Bishop, Michael P. |author4=Chamberlain, C. Page |author5=Craw, David |author6=Edwards, Michael A. |author7=Hamidullah, Syed |author8=Jam, Qasim M. |author9=Kahn, M. Asif|author10= Khattak, M. Umar Khan |author11=Kidd, William S. F. |author12=Mackie, Randall L. |author13=Meltzer, Anne S. |author14=Park, Stephen K. |author15=Pecher, Arnaud |author16=Poage, Michael A. |author17=Sarker, Golam |author18=Schneider, David A. |author19=Seeber, Leonardo|author20= Shroder, John F. |date=October 2001 |title=Crustal reworking at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan: Metamorphic consequences of thermal-mechanical coupling facilitated by erosion |journal=Tectonics |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=712–728 |doi=10.1029/2000TC001243 |bibcode=2001Tecto..20..712Z |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In November 2011, satellite images showed that the Indus river had re-entered India and was feeding the [[Great Rann of Kutch]], [[Little Rann of Kutch]] and a lake near [[Ahmedabad]] known as [[Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary|Nal Sarovar]].<ref name="Indus re"/> Heavy rains had left the river basin along with the [[Lake Manchar]], Lake Hemal and [[Keenjhar Lake|Kalri Lake]] (all in modern-day Pakistan) inundated. This happened two centuries after the Indus river shifted its course westwards following the [[1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake]].

The [[Induan]] Age at the start of the [[Triassic]] Period of geological time is named for the Indus region.

===Tributaries===
{{Div col|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Gar Tsangpo|Gar River]]
* [[Gilgit River]]
* [[Gomal River]]
* [[Haro River]]
* [[Hunza River]]
* [[Kabul River]]
* [[Kunar River]]
* [[Kurram River]]
* [[Panjnad River]]
** [[Chenab River]]
*** [[Jhelum River]]
*** [[Ravi River]]
** [[Satluj River]]
*** [[Beas River]]
* [[Shyok River]]
* [[Soan River]]
* [[Dras River]] (or [[Shingo River]])
* [[Swat River]]
* [[Zanskar River]]
* [[Luni river]]
* [[Zhob River]]
{{div end}}

{{wide image|Indus river basin without boundaries of disputed regions.png|400px|Indus River basin}}