Pamir Mountains

Geography

Mountain

The three highest mountains in the Pamirs core are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932 to 1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962 to 1998 as Communism Peak), 7,495 m (24,590 ft); Ibn Sina Peak (still officially known as Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan), 7,134 m (23,406 ft); and Peak Korzhenevskaya (Russian: Пик Корженевская, Pik Korzhenevskoi), 7,105 m (23,310 ft). In the Eastern Pamirs, China's Kongur Tagh is the highest at 7,649 m (25,095 ft).

Among the significant peaks of the Pamir Mountains are the following:

Remark: The summits of the Kongur and Muztagata Group are in some sources counted as part of the Kunlun, which would make Peak Ismoil Somoni the highest summit of the Pamir.

Glaciers

There are many glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, including the 77 km (48 mi) long Vanch-Yakh Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the polar regions. Approximately 12,500 km² (ca. 10%) of the Pamirs are glaciated. Glaciers in the Southern Pamirs are retreating rapidly. Ten percent of annual runoff is supposed to originate from retreating glaciers in the Southern Pamirs. In the North-Western Pamirs, glaciers have almost stable mass balances.

Climate

Covered in snow during most of the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers, which equals an ET (tundra climate) according to Köppen climate classification (EF above the snow line). Annual precipitation is about 130 mm (5 in), which supports grasslands but few trees.

Paleoclimatology during the Ice Age

The East-Pamir, in the centre of which the massifs of Mustagh Ata (7620 m) and Kongur Tagh (Qungur Shan, 7578, 7628 or 7830 m) are situated, shows from the western margin of the Tarim Basin an east–west extension of c. 200 km. Its north–south extension from King Ata Tagh up to the northwest Kunlun foothills amounts to c.170 km. Whilst the up to 21 km long current valley glaciers are restricted to mountain massifs exceeding 5600 m in height, during the last glacial period the glacier ice covered the high plateau with its set-up highland relief, continuing west of Mustagh Ata and Kongur. From this glacier area an outlet glacier has flowed down to the north-east through the Gez valley up to c.1850 m asl (meters above sea level) and thus as far as to the margin of the Tarim basin. This outlet glacier received inflow from the Kaiayayilak glacier from the Kongur north flank. From the north-adjacent Kara Bak Tor (Chakragil, c. 6800 or 6694 m) massif, the Oytag valley glacier in the same exposition flowed also down up to c. 1850 m asl. At glacial times the glacier snowline (ELA) as altitude limit between glacier nourishing area and ablation zone, was about 820 to 1250 metres lower than it is today. Under the condition of comparable proportions of precipitation there results from this a glacial depression of temperature of at least 5 to 7.5 °C.

Economy

Coal is mined in the west, though sheep herding in upper meadowlands is the primary source of income for the region.

Exploration

The lapis lazuli found in Egyptian tombs is thought to come from the Pamir area in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. About 138 BCE Zhang Qian reached the Fergana Valley northwest of the Pamirs. Ptolemy vaguely describes a trade route through the area. From about 600 CE, Buddhist pilgrims travelled on both sides of the Pamirs to reach India from China. In 747 a Tang army was on the Wakhan River. There are various Arab and Chinese reports. Marco Polo may have travelled along the Panj River. In 1602, Bento de Goes travelled from Kabul to Yarkand and left a meager report on the Pamirs. In 1838, Lieutenant John Wood reached the headwaters of the Pamir River. From about 1868 to 1880, a number of Indians in the British service secretly explored the Panj area. In 1873, the British and Russians agreed to an Afghan frontier along the Panj River. From 1871 to around 1893, several Russian military-scientific expeditions mapped out most of the Pamirs (Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, Nikolai Severtzov, Captain Dmitry Putyata and others. Later came Nikolai Korzhenevskiy). Several local groups asked for Russian protection from Afghan raiders. The Russians were followed by a number of non-Russians including Ney Elias, George Littledale, the Earl of Dunmore, Wilhelm Filchner and Lord Curzon who was probably the first to reach the Wakhan source of the Oxus River. In 1891, the Russians informed Francis Younghusband that he was on their territory and later escorted a Lieutenant Davidson out of the area ('Pamir Incident'). In 1892, a battalion of Russians under Mikhail Ionov entered the area and camped near the present Murghab. In 1893 they built a proper fort there (Pamirskiy Post). In 1895 their base was moved to Khorog facing the Afghans.

In 1928, the last blank areas around the Fedchenko Glacier were mapped by the German-Soviet Alay-Pamir Expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers.

Discoveries

In the early 1980s, a deposit of gemstone-quality clinohumite was discovered in the Pamir Mountains. It was the only such deposit known until the discovery of gem-quality material in the Taymyr region of Siberia, in 2000.

The earliest known evidence of human cannabis use was found in tombs at the Jirzankal Cemetery.

Transport

The Pamir Highway, the world's second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region's main supply route. The Great Silk Road crossed a number of Pamir Mountain ranges.

Tourism

In December 2009, the New York Times featured articles on the possibilities for tourism in the Pamir area of Tajikistan. 2013 proved to be the most successful year ever for tourism in the region and tourism development continues to be the fastest growing economic sector.

Strategic position

Historically, the Pamir Mountains were considered a strategic trade route between Kashgar and Kokand on the Northern Silk Road, a prehistoric trackway, and have been subject to numerous territorial conquests. The Northern Silk Road (about 2,600 km (1,616 mi) in length) connected the ancient Chinese capital Chang'an with Kashgar over the Pamir Mountains towards the west, and from there continued to ancient Parthia. In the 20th century, these mountains have been the setting for the Tajikistan Civil War, border disputes between China and the Soviet Union, establishment of military bases by the US, Russia, and India, and renewed interest in trade development and resource exploration. The Chinese government says it has resolved most of the disputes it had with Central Asian countries.

Religious symbolism

Some researchers identify the Pamirs with the Mount Meru or Sumeru. The Mount Meru is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hinduism, Buddhist and Jain, and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.