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While the collision of the Australian-Indian Tectonic Plate and the Eurasian Plate created the Himalayan Mountains millions of years ago, the land masses on either side of this northward force formed the folded, generally north-south trending Makran, Kirthar, and Sulaiman Ranges along the western border of Pakistan shown in this high-oblique, southwest-viewing photograph. The gently arcing northern Sulaiman Range splits into two separate ranges—the north-south trending Kirthar Range immediately west of the Indus River floodplain and the Makran Range that arcs westward near the coast and extends into southeastern Iran. The Chagai Hills, a smaller east-west trending range separates two sandy western deserts and form the boundary between southern Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan. A small segment of the Indus River and its broad floodplain are visible along the eastern edge of the photograph.