physical features of Pakistan

the northern mountains

location of northern mountains

they are to the north, north east and north west of Pakistan.

types of northern mountains

the karakoram range, the himalayas and the hindu kash.

korakoram meaning

black gravel

the location of the korakoram

they are located north to the river indus from hunza to shoyk. They run east to west.

average height in the karakoram range

average height is 6000m, highest is k2 being 8611m.

features in karakoram range

they have deep narrow valleys with vertically sharp cliffs due to rugged landscape.

steep slopes.

importent valleys of the area are hunza and karakoram.

passes in karakoram range

karakoram pass is the highest, khunjerab pass provides link to china through karakoram highway/ silk route.

rivers in karakoram range

river gilgit, hunza and karakoram provide drainage to the region.

precipitation is the karakoram

precipitation is in the form of snow.

glaciers in the karakoram

a no. of glaciers exist in the upper valleys such as siachen, baifo,baltoro and baltura.

development in the karakoram

a new era of development begun after the construction of the kkh.

climatic characteristics of the karakoram

severe cold/ below freezing point temp.

land frozen.

large daily range[diff b/w day and night temp].

large diff b/w sun and shade temp.

precipitation in the form of snow.

blizzards.

climatic effects in the karakoram

to cold to grow food/ for agriculture.

people forced to adapt to indoor activities.

no transportation.

need to stockpile food and fuel.

water issues due to frozen pipes.

danger of avalanches.

land sliding.

the himalayas [northern mountains]

average height is 4000m.

they run south of the karakoram.

direction is east to west.

sub parallel ranges of the himalayas

the siwliks.

the lesser himalayas.

the central himalayas.

the siwaliks [sub range of the himalayas]

average height is 600 to 1200m.

these are the most southern ranges.

they cover the rawalpindi hills.

the land is folded and faulted.

folds and faults

when a fracture or crack is formed in the earths crust it is known as a fault.

bending of rocks due to movement in earths crust is fold.

the lesser himalayas [sub range of the himalayas]

they are located to the north of the siwaliks.

the average altitude varies from 1800 to 4500m.

the range has been folded and faulted.

these ranges cover rawalpindi, abbotabad and mansehra districts.

the ranges occupy hill stations such as murree, nathia and ghora gallies.

in winter precipitation is in the form of snow.

the central himalayas [sub range of himalayas]

located in southeast of river indus which separates them from karakoram.

they mostly lie in kashmir with an average height of 4600m

due to great altitudes glaciers such as rupal 18km are located here.

valley glaciation features are found in lake saif ul maluk in kaghan.

nanga parbat 8126m is considered the highest peak here.

some deepest valleys and gorges are found here such as dasu patan which is 6500km deep.

river indus is main source of drainage for this region.

kaghan is importent valley of this area.

lake saif ul maluk and satpara are importent lakes of this region.