Talk:Karakoram

Karakoram vs Karakorum

Both spellings, "Karakoram" and "Karakorum" are used to describe this mountain range. The two spelling occur in both peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as popular literature¹. The article should be altered to include this.

In Rudyard Kipling's Kim, "Karakorum" is use in Chapter 13, page 282

"They were at Leh not so long ago. They said they had come down from the Karakorum with their heads and horns and all."

Kim, Chapter 13, page 282.

...and defined in the notes as..

"Karakorum: the mountain range about one hundred miles north of the Indus river in Baltistan, north-west of Leh."

Kim, Notes, page 362

Ltwhite (talk) 02:03, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

the name is ultimately Mongolian derived — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.81.170 (talk) 05:50, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

reversion of recent edits

A newly-created account, User:Adraen, just reverted my condensing edits related to paleoglaciation, both here and at Himalayas. Please see Talk:Himalayas#newly-created account reverted edits without explanation for a centralized discussion. —hike395 (talk) 14:28, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

I've undone the unexplained revert and asked the user to discuss concerns here. Vsmith (talk) 15:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Clarify relationship between Karakoram and Himalaya(s)

This article seems to dance around whether the Himalayas are an entirely distinct range, or if the Karakoram range is part of same. Some discussion of variable usage might help, if it's not possible to state definitively which of these is the correct and universal usage, and stick with it. (Absence of a link seems extremely unhelpful, too.) 84.203.32.57 (talk) 08:11, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Considering that ridge connecting Karakoram to main Himalayas is highier than main Himalayan Ridge between the point where Karakoram ridge splits and Nanga Parbat (Himalayas westernmost 8-thousender) logic and definitions would put Karakoram as Subridge of the Himalayas. But I couldn't find a relible source to confirm it 159.205.255.217 (talk) 04:03, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Map Needed

This article definitely needs a (better) map to show where this range is located on the planet - particularly one which highlights the distinction between this range and the (better known) Himalayas. -- 160.129.138.186 (talk) 15:54, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

A map is still needed. Someone has added a map with the caption "Interactive map outlining Karakoram range," but this doesn't have the mountains' area labeled, and even when opened in interactive mode the map seems to have no topographic information. The map later in the article is much better because it labels individual mountains, but it's too narrow to illustrate where the mountains are in Asia. RCTodd (talk) 11:31, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Refspam

@Hike395: I reverted your edit because the reference you restored had originally been put into the article by its author. It was part of a long series of self-citations that that same person inserted into hundreds of articles. (See this page for more information.)

If you have access to the source and can confirm that it is clearly appropriate as a reference for the article, go ahead and put it back in. — Gorthian (talk) 01:29, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry for the extra work.There are a lot of subtle vandals, so I figured that a bad person removed a good ref. —hike395 (talk) 03:18, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Not a problem. This guy is exactly that—a very subtle vandal! — Gorthian (talk) 06:51, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Geology

Given that the article currently says "The Karakoram is in one of the world's most geologically active areas, at the plate boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.[11] " I think the geology section could do with fleshing out a bit.

There is a link in this article to Geology_of_the_Himalaya but that doesn't seem to cover the Karakoram much, though that does lead to a 'see also' for Karakoram_fault_system which it seems to me should be linked from this article.

I guess the article for the terrane for Karakoram would be the Karakoram-Lhasa Blockand I'm told by a geologist (in reply to my question "I had forgotten about the oceanic crust that would have been north of the indian subcontinent, is there any remaining evidence of the subduction volcanism?") that "The subduction volcanism led to partial melting of the subducted Mesozoic ocean floor beneath the Asian Plate and resulted in a massive granodiorite batholith which now form the Korakoram range north of the suture (which includes K2)."

and looking around wikipedia it seems clear that would be the Indus-Yarlung suture zone and thus the Dras Volcanics - mentioned on the Geology_of_the_Himalayaarticle, and the Ladakh Batholith (shown in the image here with labels in french) would be the volcanic remnants I was wondering about.

I always surprises me that mountain articles don't tend to cover in much detail how they were formed, or the rocks they are made from. Anyway if you happen to have a good book or link on the geology of the Karakoram - then we could probably expand the geology section of this article EdwardLane (talk) 09:43, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I totally agree on this meaningful remark! The Geology section should be significantly expanded. Currently it consists of a single sentence on geology and four on glaciation. The existing sentence refers to both an internal page (Geology of the Himalayas) and to an external source - a paper from 2011 [1]. Thus the provided information is rather scarce and redirects readers to a page, seeking answers on their own. It seems like two of the mentioned pages - about Dras Volcanics and Ladakh Batholith do not exist. The minimum to be included here should be a reference to all other three mentioned internal pages (Karakoram fault system, Lhasa terrane and Indus-Yarlung suture zone), along with at least some words on the matter. For example see how it is accomplished on the Himalayas' page Himalayas#Geology - three short paragraphs on geology and one on glaciation (3:1, compared to 1:4 here).

I also agree on the observation about the typical lack of information about mountain formation (orogeny), local tectonics and vulcanism, general geology, petrology and mineralogy of the mountains and peaks on their respective pages. A somewhat good example, where at least some of these are referred to in significant detail, is the Geology section of the K2 page, the highest peak in Karakoram Range - K2#Geology. The cited sources there are four, unfortunately by the same author as the one cited here - Michael P. Searle, thus lacking diversity. These include a book/paper and a map from 1991, and two papers from 1990 [2] and 2010 [3]. None of the five sources are freely accessible through the provided links, however. Bobbylon (talk) 23:08, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:55, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Region

It lies in Disputed Kashmir region, right?? that's what the UN says.. 117.210.174.158 (talk) 16:30, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Ambiguous Boundaries Description

Noticed an ambiguous description of the southern boundaries of the range in the introduction section: "The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the Gilgit, Indus and Shyok rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the Himalaya range proper. These rivers flow northwest before making an abrupt turn southwestward towards the plains of Pakistan." The part that summarizes the courses of the three mentioned rivers is ambiguous and can lead to incorrect conclusions by the reader. These courses are complex and can not be summarized in the proposed way. While true about the Indus, that it forms the central part of the southwestern border of the range, flowing to the northwest and then changing its course in southwesterly direction - not far before it receives the waters of Gilgit River (near Jaglot), it is not true about the other two rivers. Gilgit River for comparison runs its entire course in southeastern direction until discharging into the Indus. The confluence of these two rivers is a tripoint where three mountain ranges meet - the Karakoram Range to the north, northeast and northwest; the Himalayas to the south and southeast; and the Hindu Kush to the west. It could be mentioned in such a description. Finally the Shyok River, originating from the Rimo Glacier, initially flows in southeastern direction until abruptly changing its course (not long before the Karakoram Dwar Bridge), but not to the southwest, as implied in the introduction. Its course changes to a northwestern direction, almost parallel to its own former course, and parallel to the course of the Indus River, itself a range away to the southwest. Shyok's major tributary - the Nubra River follows the same pattern, where its course change is at its confluence near Diskit. Shyok discharges into the Indus near Keris, where it has been running to the west for a short while, after accepting the waters of Hushe River, itself coming from the north-northwest. Here is a suitable map depicting the described river courses in its upper part: [4], and one about the entire Shyok River course: [5]. Here is another one - a more detailed, but less accurate map, that omits the initial course of the Shyok River and also depicts the Gilgit River before its confluence with the Indus as Hunza River, while it is just its tributary, joining it at Gilgit: [6]. A more general map of the region: [7]. To summarize - out of the three mentioned rivers in the introduction, one meets the directions of the description - the Indus River; one holds only to the part where it flows northwest, but not southwestward - the Shyok River (also not mentioned is its initial southeastern course direction, where it too forms the boundary of the range); and one river fails to meet any of the described directions, since it only flows to the southeast. Should this part of the introduction be changed? Bobbylon (talk) 00:56, 3 March 2024 (UTC)