Prelims ask
China, east–west, north of Tibet. Do not match Kunlun with Everest.
Asia · Young fold
Kunlun
- Countries
- China. It forms the northern rim of the Tibetan Plateau.
- Length
- About 3,000 km. Exam-safe figure.
- Orientation
- East–west.
- Mountain type
- Young fold
- Plates
- Far-field uplift from the Indian–Eurasian collision. Northern structural edge of Tibet, not the India–Asia suture itself.
- Highest peak
- Liushi Shan (Kunlun Goddess), 7,167 m. Textbooks that only need a class of height may say ‘above 7,000 m’.
- Rivers that rise here
- Northern slopes feed inland rivers of the Tarim basin. The Yellow River’s farthest headwaters lie in the Bayan Har, at the eastern Kunlun system.
- Climate and rain shadow
- Separates the high, dry plateau from the Taklamakan depression to the north. A rain-shadow and inland-drainage rim.
Mains use
Shows that one collision can raise more than one east–west wall, with desert basins caught between them.