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Karakoram

Second-highest mountain range on Earth, most glaciated outside polar regions.

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Where it is

Coordinates: 35°52′59″N 76°30′47″E (35.8830, 76.5130) · Open in OpenStreetMap

Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Karakoram (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.

The range contains eighteen summits higher than 7500 m, including four above 8000 m: K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum II.[1]

Geography and history

Karakoram is a Turkic term meaning black gravel, originally applied by Central Asian traders to the Karakoram Pass.[2] The Karakoram lies at the plate boundary between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates, making it one of the world's most geologically active areas.[3] Between 28 and 50 percent of the Karakoram Range is glaciated, covering over 15,000 km².[3] The Muztagh Pass was crossed in 1887 by Colonel Francis Younghusband's expedition.[4]

Floral surveys in the Shyok River catchment and from Panamik to Turtuk village were conducted by Chandra Prakash Kala during 1999 and 2000.[5] Ice-age valley glaciers in the region had lengths up to 700 km, while current valley glaciers reach a maximum of 76 km.[6] Evidence indicates that during the most recent glacial period, an interconnected system of glaciers extended from western Tibet all the way to Nanga Parbat, and also from the Tarim Basin down to the Gilgit District.[7]

What the cited sources add

A NASA Earth Observatory account notes that the Karakoram and Himalaya formed from the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia beginning about 40 million years ago.[8] The same source states that these are the youngest, most dramatic, and fastest uplifting mountains in the world, according to geologist Michael Searle.[8] The Baltoro Glacier, at 62 kilometers, is the longest glacier in the Karakoram according to the NASA account.[8] A ScienceDaily article reports that half of the studied glaciers in the Karakoram region are stable or advancing, while about two-thirds are in retreat elsewhere in High Asia.[9]

The ScienceDaily article also notes that glaciers in the Karakoram region of Northwestern Himalaya are mostly stagnating, contrasting with retreating glaciers in other Himalayan areas.[9] The NASA account explains that surveyors catalogued peaks by number, giving each the prefix K for Karakoram followed by a number.[8] The same source notes that K2 is the tallest mountain in the Karakoram and the second tallest in the world.[8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tajikistan's Fedchenko Glacier is long. Baltoro and Batura Glaciers in the Karakoram are long, as is Bruggen or Pio XI Glacier in southern Chile. Measurements a; .; "Hindu Kush Himalayan Region", International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development; .; Voiland, "The Eight-Thousanders", NASA Earth Observatory, 2013; "Mountains" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mason, "Exploration of the Shaksgam Valley and Aghil Ranges, 1926", Asian Educational Services, 2004, p. 72; Mason, "Exploration of the Shaksgam Valley and Aghil Ranges, 1926", Asian Educational Services, 2004, p. 72; Close, "Nomenclature in the Karakoram: Discussion", The Geographical Journal, 1930, p. 148–158 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Geological evolution of the Karakoram ranges", Italian Journal of Geosciences, 2011, p. 147–159; Muhammad, "Early twenty-first century glacier mass losses in the Indus Basin constrained by density assumptions", Journal of Hydrology, 2019, p. 467–475; Gansser, "Geology of the Himalayas", Interscience Publishers, August 2026 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: French, Patrick. (1994). Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, pp. 53, 56-60. HarperCollinsPublishers, London. Reprint (1995): Flamingo. London. . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kala, "Indigenous Uses, Population Density, and Conservation of Threatened Medicinal Plants in Protected Areas of the Indian Himalayas", Conservation Biology, 2005, p. 368–378; Kala, "Health traditions of Buddhist community and role of amchis in trans-Himalayan region of India", Current Science, 2005, p. 1331 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kuhle, "Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology - A Closer Look", 2011, p. 943–965; Kuhle, "Tibet and High Asia (VI): Glaciogeomorphology and Prehistoric Glaciation in the Karakoram and Himalaya", GeoJournal, 2001, p. 109–396 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Karakoram" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kuhle, "The Pleistocene Glaciation of Tibet and the Onset of Ice Ages- An Autocycle Hypothesis.Tibet and High Asia. Results of the Sino-German Joint Expeditions (I)", GeoJournal, 1988, p. 581–596; Kuhle, "Karakoram in Transition", OUP Pakistan, 2006, p. 24–48; Kuhle, "Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology - A Closer Look", 2011, p. 943–965; Kuhle, "The Pleistocene Glaciation of Tibet and the Onset of Ice Ages- An Autocycle Hypothesis.Tibet and High Asia. Results of the Sino-German Joint Expeditions (I)", GeoJournal, 1988, p. 581–596; en.wikipedia.org
  8. Voiland, "The Eight-Thousanders", NASA Earth Observatory, 2013. facts only, no text reused. earthobservatory.nasa.gov
  9. "Debris on certain Himalayan glaciers may prevent melting", ScienceDaily, 25 January 2011. facts only, no text reused. sciencedaily.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Karakoram (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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