Karakoram

The Karakoram (, ) is a mountain range in Asia located primarily in the Kashmir region. The range spans the borders of Pakistan, China, and India,Template:Efn with the north-western extremities of the range extending into Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Karakoram contains four of the fourteen eight-thousanders, the highest of which is K2, the second highest mountain on Earth.

The Karakoram begins in the Wakhan Corridor in western Afghanistan and extends eastwards into Indian-administered Ladakh and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin, as well as the Chinese province of Xinjiang. Most of the Karakoram is located within the Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region. The Karakoram is bounded on the east by the Aksai Chin plateau, on the north-east by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the river valleys of the Yarkand and Karakash rivers, beyond which lie the Kunlun Mountains. At the north-west corner are the Pamir Mountains. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed west to east by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok rivers, which separate the range from the north-western end of the Himalaya. These rivers flow north-west before making an abrupt turn south-westwards towards the plains of Pakistan. Roughly in the middle of the Karakoram range is the Karakoram Pass, which was part of a now unused trade route between Ladakh and Yarkand.

The range is about Template:Cvt in length and is the most glaciated place on Earth outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier (Template:Cvt long) and Biafo Glacier (Template:Cvt long) are the second- and third-longest glaciers outside the polar regions. The Karakoram is the second-highest mountain range on Earth and part of a complex of ranges that includes the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush, and the Indian Himalayas. The range contains eighteen summits higher than Template:Cvt in elevation, with four above Template:Cvt which include K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum II.

Name

File:Biafo Glacier, Gilgit Region.jpg

The black gravel of the Karakoram mountains, as seen near Pakistan's Biafo Glacier

Karakoram is a Turkic term meaning black gravel. The Central Asian traders originally applied the name to the Karakoram Pass. Early European travelers, including William Moorcroft and George Hayward, started using the term for the range of mountains west of the pass, although they also used the term Muztagh (meaning, "Ice Mountain") for the range now known as Karakoram. Later terminology was influenced by the Survey of India, whose surveyor, Thomas Montgomerie, in the 1850s, gave the labels K1 to K6 (K for Karakoram) to six high mountains visible from his station at Mount Haramukh in Kashmir Valley, codes extended further up to more than thirty.

In traditional Indian geography, the mountains were known as Krishnagiri (black mountains), Kanhagiri, and Kanheri.

Exploration

Due to its altitude and ruggedness, the Karakoram is much less inhabited than parts of the Himalayas further east. European explorers first visited in the early 19th century, followed by British surveyors starting in 1856.

The Muztagh Pass was crossed in 1887 by the expedition of Colonel Francis Younghusband, and the valleys above the Hunza River were explored by General Sir George K. Cockerill in 1892. Explorations in the 1910s and 1920s established most of the geography of the region.

The name Karakoram was used in the early 20th century, for example by Kenneth Mason, for the range now known as the Baltoro Muztagh. The term is now used to refer to the entire range from the Batura Muztagh above Hunza in the west to the Saser Muztagh in the bend of the Shyok River in the east.

File:Hunza Valley, view from Eagle's Nest.jpg

Hunza Valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, administered by Pakistan

Floral surveys were carried out in the Shyok River catchment and from Panamik to Turtuk village by Chandra Prakash Kala during 1999 and 2000.

Geology and glaciers

The Karakoram is in one of the world's most geologically active areas, at the plate boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate. A significant part, somewhere between 28 and 50 percent, of the Karakoram Range is glaciated, covering an area of more than , compared to between 8 and 12 percent of the Himalaya and 2.2 percent of the Alps. Mountain glaciers may serve as an indicator of climate change, advancing and receding with long-term changes in temperature and precipitation. The Karakoram glaciers are slightly retreating, unlike the Himalayas, where glaciers are losing mass at a significantly higher rate, many Karakoram glaciers are covered in a layer of rubble which insulates the ice from the warmth of the sun. Where there is no such insulation, the rate of retreat is high.

• Siachen Glacier
• Baltoro Glacier
• Hispar Glacier
• Batura Glacier
• Biafo Glacier
• Chogo Lungma Glacier
• Yinsugaiti Glacier

Ice Age

In the last ice age, a connected series of glaciers stretched from western Tibet to Nanga Parbat, and from the Tarim Basin to the Gilgit District. To the south, the Indus glacier was the main valley glacier, which flowed down from the Nanga Parbat massif to elevation. In the north, the Karakoram glaciers joined those from the Kunlun Mountains and flowed down to in the Tarim Basin.

While the current valley glaciers in the Karakoram reach a maximum length of , several of the ice-age valley glacier branches and main valley glaciers, had lengths up to . During the Ice Age, the glacier snowline was about lower than today.

Highest peaks

File:Baltoro region from space annotated.png

Highest Karakoram peaks in the Baltoro region as seen from the International Space Station

Template:Karakoram OSM The majority of the highest peaks are in the Gilgit–Baltistan region administered by Pakistan. Baltistan has more than 100 mountain peaks exceeding height from sea level. Following is a list for the highest peaks of the Karakoram. Included are some of the mountains named with a K code, the most well-known of which is the K2.

Mountain	Height	Ranked	K code	Area administered by
K2		2	K2	Pakistan–China, at the head of the Godwin-Austen Glacier
Gasherbrum I		11	K5	China–Pakistan
Broad Peak		12		China–Pakistan
Gasherbrum II		13	K4	China–Pakistan
Gasherbrum III			K3a	Pakistan
Gasherbrum IV		17	K3	Pakistan
Distaghil Sar		19		Pakistan
Kunyang Chhish		21		Pakistan
Masherbrum I		22	K1	Pakistan
Batura I		25		Pakistan
Rakaposhi		26		Pakistan
Batura II				Pakistan
Kanjut Sar		28		Pakistan
Saltoro Kangri I		31	K10	India–Pakistan
Batura III				Pakistan
Saltoro Kangri II			K11	India–Pakistan
Saser Kangri I		35	K22	India
Chogolisa		36		Pakistan
Shispare Sar		38		Pakistan
Trivor Sar		39		Pakistan
Skyang Kangri		43		China–Pakistan
Mamostong Kangri		47	K35	India
Saser Kangri II		48		India
Saser Kangri III		51		India
Pumari Chhish		53		Pakistan
Passu Sar		54		Pakistan
Yukshin Gardan Sar		55		Pakistan
Teram Kangri I		56		China–India
Malubiting		58		Pakistan
K12 or Saitang Peak		61	K12	India–Pakistan subsidiary of Saltoro Kangri
Sia Kangri		63		China–Pakistan
Skilma Gangri or Ghursay Kangri II			K8	Pakistan, on the western flank of the Siachen Glacier
Momhil Sar		64		Pakistan
Skil Brum		66		China–Pakistan
Haramosh Peak		67		Pakistan
Ghent Kangri		69		India–Pakistan
Ultar Peak		70		Pakistan
Rimo I		71		India
Sherpi Kangri		74		Pakistan
Bojohagur Duanasir				Pakistan
Yazghil Dome South				Pakistan
Baltoro Kangri		81		Pakistan
Crown Peak		83		China
Baintha Brakk		86		Pakistan
Yutmaru Sar		87		Pakistan
Baltistan Peak		88	K6	Pakistan
Muztagh Tower		90		China–Pakistan
Diran		92		Pakistan
Apsarasas Kangri I		95		China–India
Rimo III		97		India
Gasherbrum V				Pakistan
Link Sar				Pakistan
Gamba Gangri	(approx)		K9	Pakistan near Trango Towers
Gomgma Gangri			K7	Pakistan at the head of the Charakusa Valley
Dansam Peak			K13	Pakistan south west of Saltoro Kangri
Paiju Peak				Pakistan
Pastan Kangri			K25	India south of Saltoro Kangri

Subranges

File:Karakoram Range.jpg

View of the Moon over Karakoram Range in Pakistan

The naming and division of the various subranges of the Karakoram is not universally agreed upon. However, the following is a list of the most important subranges, following Jerzy Wala. The ranges are listed roughly west to east.

• Batura Muztagh
• Rakaposhi-Haramosh Mountains
• Spantik-Sosbun Mountains
• Hispar Muztagh
• South Ghujerab Mountains
• Panmah Muztagh
• Wesm Mountains
• Masherbrum Mountains
• Baltoro Muztagh
• Saltoro Mountains
• Siachen Muztagh
• Rimo Muztagh
• Saser Muztagh

Passes

Template:Karakoram Mountain Pass OSM Passes from west to east are:

• Dandala Pass is the most important and earlier pass. It starts from Ghursay saitang city to Yarqand in China. It is the main trade route between Khaplu, Ladakh, Kharmang to Yarqand, China.
• Kilik Pass
• Mintaka Pass
• Khunjerab Pass is the highest paved international border crossing at . It serves the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, the "8th world wonder".
• Shimshal Pass
• Mustagh Pass
• Karakoram Pass
• Sasser Pass
• Naltar Pass

The Khunjerab Pass is the only motorable pass across the range. The Shimshal Pass (which does not cross an international border) is the only other pass still in regular use.

Cultural references

The Karakoram mountain range has been referred to in a number of novels and movies. Rudyard Kipling refers to the Karakoram mountain range in his novel Kim, which was first published in 1900. Marcel Ichac made a film titled Karakoram, chronicling a French expedition to the range in 1936. The film won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival of 1937. Greg Mortenson details the Karakoram, and specifically K2 and the Balti, extensively in his book Three Cups of Tea, about his quest to build schools for children in the region. K2 Kahani (The K2 Story) by Mustansar Hussain Tarar describes his experiences at K2 base camp.

See also

• Karakoram Highway
• List of mountain ranges of the world
• List of highest mountains (a list of mountains above )
• Mount Imeon

References

Sources

• Curzon, George Nathaniel. 1896. The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus. Royal Geographical Society, London. Reprint: Elibron Classics Series, Adamant Media Corporation. 2005. Template:ISBN (pbk); Template:ISBN (hbk).
• Kipling, Rudyard 2002. Kim (novel); ed. by Zohreh T. Sullivan. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Template:ISBN—This is the most extensive critical modern edition with footnotes, essays, maps, etc.
• Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David Oliver. 2008. Three Cups of Tea. Penguin Books Ltd. Template:ISBN (pbk); Viking Books Template:ISBN (hbk); Tantor Media Template:ISBN (MP3 CD).
• Kreutzmann, Hermann, Karakoram in Transition: Culture, Development, and Ecology in the Hunza Valley, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. Template:ISBN.

Further reading

• Dainelli, G. (1932). A Journey to the Glaciers of the Eastern Karakoram. The Geographical Journal, 79(4), 257–268.

External links

• Blankonthemap The Northern Kashmir Website