The Ras Koh Hills is a range of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

hills forming a southwestern part of the Sulaiman Mountain Range, in the

Chagai Chagai may refer to: * Chagai District, a district in Balochistan, Pakistan * Chagai, Pakistan, the capital city of Chagai District * Chagai Hills, a mountainous region in the district *''Chagai-I'', the codename for Pakistan's first nuclear weapon ...

and Kharan districts of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Balochistan province Balochistan (; bal, بلۏچستان; ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It shares land ...

. The word "Ras" means "gateway" and the word "Koh" means "mountain" in Balochi. Ras Koh, therefore, means "Gateway to the Mountains." Pakistan's first nuclear tests were carried out in the Ras Koh Hills on 28 May 1998.

Location

The Ras Koh Hills are situated in the Chagai and Kharan districts of Pakistan's Balochistan province and lie to the south of the

Chagai Hills The Chagai Hills is a range of granite hills in the Chagai District in Pakistan's Balochistan province. Location The Chagai Hills lie between 28' 46" to 29' 34" N and 63' 18" to 64' 50" in a desert area in the northernmost part of Chagai Dist ...

, with the higher

Sulaiman Mountains The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān ( Balochi/Urdu/ fa, ; "Mountains of Solomon") or Da Kasē Ghrūna ( ps, د كسې غرونه; "Mountains of Kasi"), are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system i ...

to the northeast and the lower

Kirthar Mountains The Kirthar Mountains ( ur, كوه کھیرتھر; sd, کير ٿر جبل) are a mountain range that mark the boundary between the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, and which comprise much of the Kirthar National Park. The mountain ra ...

to the southeast.

Topography

Plateaus and basins predominate the Ras Koh Hills with an average elevation of 600 metres, but in areas, the hills can reach elevations up to 3,000 metres. The Ras Koh Hills are composed of granite, are carved out by innumerable channels, but the arid climate restricts rain and for the most part leaves these channels dry. Although little water reaches the low-lying basins, numerous

alluvial fans An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

are found in the area. A structural depression separates the Chagai Hills and the Ras Koh Hills, consisting of flood plains and areas covered with thin layers of salt. Unlike the

Toba Kakar Range The Toba Kakar or Toba Kakari ( ps, توبه کاکړۍ; ur, توبہ کاکڑ) are a southern offshoot of the Sulaiman Mountains in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, extending into the Kandahar and Zabul provinces of Afghanistan. The histori ...

to the north-east, which has scattered

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...

and

pistachio The pistachio (, ''Pistacia vera''), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. ''Pistacia vera'' is often confused with other sp ...

trees, the Ras Koh Hills are largely barren and devoid of vegetation. Most of people in the area, therefore, lead a nomadic life, raising camels, sheep and goats.

Climate

The Ras Koh Hills lie in an

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

zone, which is outside the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

belt. The Ras Koh Hills receive scanty and irregular rainfall (an average of 100 mm (4 inches) annually). The temperature is extreme: very hot in summer and very cold in winter. The average minimum temperature is 2.4 °C (36.3 °F) in January and the average maximum temperature is 42.5 °C (108.5 °F) in July.

Wildlife sanctuary

Ras Koh Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of 994.98 km². It was designated in 1962 by the Government of Pakistan.UNEP-WCMC (2022). Protected Area Profile for Ras Koh from the World Database of Protected Areas. Accessed 30 January 2022. https://www.protectedplanet.net/6807

Nuclear tests

Ras Koh Hills was the site of Pakistan's

Chagai-I Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province. Chagai-I was Pakistan' ...

nuclear tests.The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). ''28 May 1998 - Pakistan Nuclear Tests.'' https://www.ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/28-may-1998-pakistan-nuclear-testings

References

{{Reflist Hills of Pakistan Sulaiman Mountains Chagai District Kharan District Landforms of Balochistan (Pakistan) Pakistani nuclear test sites Project-706 Nuclear history of Pakistan Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Nuclear test sites