Forum Pakistan

(Himalayan Mountains; in Sanskrit: 'the snow abode') The world's highest mountain range, it divides central Asia from South Asia. Its borders are the Indus-Ganges Plain in the south and the Tibet Plateau in the north. The Himalayas are shaped like a bow stretching towards the south for more than 2,500 km. They cross the territories of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. The Nanga Parbat Range (8,126 metres), is considered to be the western extremity of the Himalayas, while the eastern extremity is the mount of N amchabarva (7,765 metres). The two great Asian rivers, the *Indus in the west and the Brahmaputra in the east, are the natural borders of the Himalayas.

Geologically, the Himalayas are a complex foldmountain system that formed in the southern outskirts of the ancient ocean Tethys, in tbe epoch of the Alpine orogenesis. The rock composition includes preCambrian metamorphoida: gneisses, crystalline schists. The northern slopes are composed of sedimentary rocks of later eras. In the foothills, and partly in the lower sections of the mountains, these rocks are covered with sedimentary deposits.
The Himalayas have a terraced structure. Three parallel belts of mountain ranges of differing heights can be identified. They all have steep southern slopes and a relatively gentle slope northward, and are known as the Cis-Himalayas, the Small Himalayas, and the Great Himalayas. The *Karakoram Range is often seen as the fourth belt. In Pakistani territory, we find the Cis-Himalayas and individual foothills of the Small Himalayas.

The Great Himalayas are the highest belt, approximately 50 to 90 krn. wide, with an average heigbt of about 6,000 metres. The ten highest Himalayan peaks, all exceeding 8,000 metres, including Jomolungma and Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, are in this belt. The entire area under ice is more than 33,000 sq.krn., with glaciers stretching up to 32 km.
The Smaller Himalayas, the next range towards the south, are approximately 80 to 95 krn. wide and of medium height; from 2,500 to 4,000 metres such as Pir-Panjal, Dhaoladhar, Mahabharat and Daury.

The Cis-Himalayas occupy the southern edge of the Himalayas and are a widely scattered foothill zone approximately 30 to 50 krn. wide with peaks higher than 1,200 metres. Included in the Cis-Himalayas are the *Salt Range, *Potwar Plateau, Siwalik Range, Dundva Range, and Churiag-Khati.

The Himalayas form a natural barrier preventing the equatorial monsoons of South Asia reading the highland Tibetan deserts. The mean monthly temperatures, on the southern slopes up to 3,000 metres high, remain above zero centigrade all year round. The daily temperatures vary greatly, sometimes rising up to 45°C. The snowline ranges from 4,500 metres in the east to 5,300 metres in the west. Precipitation diminishes from 2,500-5,500 mm annually in the east to 1,000 mm in the west). The northern slopes have a cold, dry climate with an average of 100 mm precipitation annually, characteristic of mountain deserts. The daily temperatures vary greatly, sometimes ranging up to 45°C. The eternal snow line lies at 5,500-6000 metres.

All the largest South Asian rivers, such as the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaptura, and the *Sutlej flow from the northern slopes of the Himalayas, cutting through the entire system. The rivers are mostly fed by melting snow and glaciers. They flood in the summer spate. The rich power potential is, to date, under-utilised.
Almost all the highland landscape flora varieties are represented; evergreen sub-equatorial and oak woods, coniferous forests, stunted forests, and alpine meadows. Foothills and mountain valleys are intensively cultivated and many areas are terraced. Timber cutting is extensive. Copper, bauxites, gold, chromites, and sapphires are among other minerals that are mined.