Zhob River ( ps, ږوب سيند; ) is located in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

and

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

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 ...

. The total length of the Zhob River is 410 km, and it flows on a generally northeasterly course.

Etymology

In the

Pashto language Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

, ''Zhob'' means "oozing water". Linguistically the name is Irano-Aryan in origin and compares etymologically to those of the

Little Zab The Little Zab or Lower Zab (, ''al-Zāb al-Asfal''; or '; , ''Zâb-e Kuchak''; , ''Zāba Taḥtāya'') is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is approximately long and d ...

and

Great Zab The Great Zab or Upper Zab ( (''al-Zāb al-Kabīr''), or , , ''(zāba ʻalya)'') is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin o ...

rivers in the Tigris Basin.

Course

The Zhob River originates in the Kan Mehtarzai range (Tsari Mehtarzai Pass) near

Muslim Bagh Muslim Bagh (Pashto/ ur, مسلم باغ), is a town in Killa Saifullah District, Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located at an altitude of . According to the Census of 1998, the population of Muslim Bagh is 70,361 (male 37,303 and female 33,058), w ...

. It passes about 4 km west of the city of Zhob. As a tributary of the

Gomal River Gomal River ( ur, , ps, ګومل سیند، ګومل دریاب) is a river in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It rises in the northern part of Afghanistan's Paktika Province. It joins the Indus River 20 miles south of Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakh ...

, which it joins near Khajuri Kach, it forms a part of the

Indus River Basin The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kas ...

Agriculture

The Zhob River is used to irrigate the land in northern Balochistan along with the

, making the fertile soil available for agriculture. Although in the 1960s and 1970s degradation of the channel of the Zhob decreased the irrigable acreage.

Archaeology

Along the Zhob River there are located the ancient sites of Rana Ghundai, Periano Ghundai,

Rehman Dheri Rehman Dheri or sometime Rahman Dheri () is a Pre-Harappan Archaeological Site situated near Dera Ismail Khan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This is one of the oldest urbanised centres found to date in South Asia. Dated (3300 - 19 ...

, along with the nearby site of Gumla, which go before 3000 BC.

References

Zhob District Rivers of Balochistan (Pakistan) Rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Indus basin Rivers of Pakistan {{Pakistan-river-stub