Ras Koh Hills
| Ras Koh Hills | ||
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| location | Pakistan , Balochistan Province | |
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| Coordinates | 28 ° 50 ′ N , 65 ° 12 ′ E | |
| rock | granite | |
The Ras Koh Hills are a mountain range up to 3009 m high in the Pakistani province of Balochistan . There, northwest of Kharan , is the nuclear weapons test site , where Pakistan carried out its first underground nuclear explosions on May 28, 1998. The word "Ras" in Baluchi means "gate" and "Koh" means mountain, so Ras Koh means gate to the mountains.
Geography and climate
The mountain range, consisting primarily of granite , and the Chagai Hills, which run almost parallel to the north, branch off in a generally west-southwest direction from the Kirthar Mountains, which run roughly north-south . The Ras Koh chain extends over a length of about 230 km from about 29 ° 25 ′ 0 ″ N , 65 ° 58 ′ 0 ″ E south of Nushki in the northeast to 28 ° 19 ′ 0 ″ N , 63 ° 49 ′ 0 ″ O about 100 km southwest of Dalbandin in the southwest and is up to 50 km wide. The N-40 national road ("Quetta-Taftan Highway") runs along its northern flank from Nushki to Dalbandin and on to Taftan on the border with Iran .
In the south and north, the mountain range is flanked by desert valleys, the Kharan Desert and the Dalbandin Valley, which are characterized by numerous and often very high shifting dunes and partly by salt flats . The area has an arid climate . Rainfall is rare and irregular, and the average annual rainfall is only about 10 cm. Temperatures are very hot in summer (average high 42.5 ° C in July) and cold in winter (average low 2.4 ° C in January). Due to the dry climate, the mountains, as well as the neighboring valleys, are almost devoid of vegetation , and the sparse population of the area lives transhumantly with their small herds of camels, goats and sheep.
Nuclear weapons tests
On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five underground nuclear explosions (code name Chagai-I , 28 ° 47 ′ 31 ″ N ) under the approximately 2,700 m high Koh Kambaran in the Ras Koh Hills, about halfway (as the crow flies) between Kharan and Dalbandin , 64 ° 56 ′ 51 ″ E ), followed on May 30 by another in the Kharan Desert about 100 km southwest of Dalbandin ( Chagai-II , 28 ° 29 ′ 56 ″ N , 63 ° 44 ′ 28 ″ E ) which officially made Pakistan a nuclear power .