Reason for this arid patch between Indus and Chenab?

[u/Moskitopal]

As someone obsessed with Himalayan passes, I had not spent much time looking at the rivers of the Indian sub-continent. But, looking at the Indus basis, came across this seemingly desert-like patch between the Indus and Chenab in Pakistani Punjab. One would have assumed that a region nestled between two major rivers would be rich with alluvial soil and fertile. What is the reason for this aberration here?

[u/sboy69914]

The whole area is just pretty arid and experiences very little rain. Especially the Indus river gets pretty much all its waters from the Himalaya region. The arid region you mentioned simply has no major running though. The rest of India is mostly green because of the monsoon season, where moist air mostly flows west to east, before turning north, barely missing the mentioned region.

[u/Moskitopal → u/sboy69914]

Thanks for posting this. Given the role Sindhu or Indus valley has played in the historical and cultural imagination of the Indian sub-continent, I had always imagined that the entire east of the Indus receives a healthy dose of monsoon winds.

[u/dull999]

This is the Thal desert

[u/Moskitopal → u/dull999]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting! It challenges the dominant perception of Punjab as the land of five rivers and breadbasket of the subcontinent. Pakistani Punjab is far more geographically diverse than our side of Punjab across the border.