Prelims ask
K2, 8,611 m, Karakoram, Pakistan–China. Range states: Pakistan, India, China. Nepal is the trap option.
Asia · Young fold
Karakoram
- Countries
- Pakistan, India and China.
- Length
- About 500 km.
- Orientation
- Northwest–southeast.
- Mountain type
- Young fold
- Plates
- Indian–Eurasian collision, west of the Himalayan arc and beside the Pamir knot.
- Highest peak
- K2 (Godwin Austen), 8,611 m, Pakistan–China. Exam-safe figure.
- Rivers that rise here
- Shyok, Hunza and Gilgit drain to the Indus. The Indus skirts the range rather than rising on K2.
- Climate and rain shadow
- High and relatively dry, but the most heavily glaciated large range on Earth. Siachen lies in the eastern Karakoram — relevant only when a question locates K2 or the range.
Mains use
Use to separate the western syntax of the collision from the Himalaya proper.