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Location|
Boundries|
Area|
Topography|
Soil|
Geology|
Mining|
Flora|
Fauna
The district lies between 350 - 040 to 350 - 460 north latitudes and 710 - 320 to 720 - 220
east longitudes.
It is bounded on the north and north-west by Chitral district, on the east by Swat district,
on the south by Lower Dir district and on the west by Chitral district and Afghanistan.
The total area of the district is 3699 square kilometers.
The topography of the district is dominated by the high mountains. The most important mountain
range is the Hindu Raj. It rounds from north-east to south-west along the northern border with
Chirtal district. The highest peak, at the extreme north of the district, is about 6,000 meters above the sea level. The famous Lowari Top or Lowari Pass, with height of 4,189 meters above the sea level, is located in this range. The height decreases slowly towards the south-west along the river Panjkora to less than 2000 meters. In winter the whole area remains snow covered. The mountains in the western part of the district are covered with forests, while the eastern mountains, known as Dir Kohistan, are barren.
The extensive soil of Upper Dir district is Kedam-rockland complex. The soils have developed on
sub-recent residual and colluvial slopes of diorites etc. The main land use of the soils are
thick forest cover. The spoils are shallow, slightly gravely loams/silt loams.
Dir is underlain by metamorphic and igneous rocks, comprising four main rock types,
i.e. quartz-felspare-biotite4 schist with interlayers of metamorphosed limestone,
amphibelite, rocks of diorite group and a series of pegmatite-aplite dykes cutting
the amphibelite and the diorite group rocks.
In proper Dir town the Sarhad Development Authority has explored copper mineralization in the
localities around Bekaray, Ala, Guma Dand and Barawal areas. The estimated reserves are around
4 million tones with 0.4 per cent copper. The reserves are very small to be exploited
commercially. Besides, the following minerals occurrences are known in Upper Dir.
| Name of Mineral... | Name of Area... |
| Iron Ore | Barawal Area |
| Copper | Usherai Darra |
There are different kinds of flora such as Pollen Zira, Banafsha, Gangora,
Ber-e-Sumbol, Sarlobal and Antedolt, Zahar Morha are found in abundance in the surrounding
hills. Besides, roses, bogan valia, Gul-e-Dawoodi, Gul-e-Kharro and daffodils are also found
in the district.
Animals/birds including Chakoor, Maina, Duck, Leopard and Jackal are found in the district.
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District Government