The district of Dera Ismail Khan is bounded on the east by the Bhakkar and Dera Ghazi Khan districts of Punjab. Eastern portions of the district along the Indus River are characterized by fertile alluvial plains, while lands farther from the river consist of clay soil cut by ravines from rainfall. The district is bounded on the southwest by a thin strip of the South Waziristan district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which separates D.I Khan from the Takht-e-Sulaiman Mountain in the neighboring Baluchistan province. In the northwest is the Tank District.