Pamir-Alay

Pamir-Alay
Помиру-Олой (Tajik) Помир-Алай (Shughni) Pomir-Oloy (Uzbek) Памир-Алай (Kyrgyz) Памиро-Алай (Russian)
View of the Zarafshan Range near the Anzob Pass
Highest point
Peak	Pik Skalisty
Elevation	5,621 m (18,442 ft)
Coordinates	39°30′N71°0′E / 39.500°N 71.000°E / 39.500; 71.000
Dimensions
Length	900 km (560 mi)E/W
Width	150 km (93 mi)N/S
Geography
Location in Tajikistan
Country	Tajikistan
Parent range	Pamir Mountains

The Pamir-Alay is a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, located north of the main range of the Pamir Mountains. It encompasses four main mountain ranges extending west from the Tian Shan Mountains. They are variously considered part of the Tian Shan, ^[1] of the Pamir, ^[2] or a separate mountain system. ^[3] The term "Pamiro-Alay" is also used to refer to the mountain region encompassing the Pamir, the Pamir-Alay proper (then referred to as "Gissaro-Alay") and the Tajik Depression. ^{[4] [5]}

The Pamir-Alay stretches between the valleys of the Syr Darya (Fergana Valley) to its north and the Vakhsh to its south. ^[2] Its highest summit is Pik Skalisty (Russian : пик Скалистый; lit. 'rocky peak'), with an elevation of 5,621 m (18,442 ft), in the Turkestan Range. ^[6] The Pamir-Alay is about 900 km long in west–east direction, and up to 150 km wide in the Western part. ^[5]

Main subranges

The Pamir-Alay is subdivided into the following mountain ranges: ^[1]

• Turkestan Range (5,621 m)
• Alay Range (5,544 m)
• Zarafshan Range (5,489 m), including Fann Mountains
• Gissar Range (4,643 m), including Köýtendag Range

References

1. V.S. Burtman (2000). "Cenozoic crustal shortening between the Pamir and Tien Shan and a reconstruction of the Pamir–Tien Shan transition zone for the Cretaceous and Palaeogene" (PDF). Tectonophysics . 319 (2): 69–92. Bibcode:2000Tectp.319...69B. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(00)00022-6.
2. Irina Merzlyakova (2002). "16 The Mountains of Central Asia and Kazakhstan". The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia. Oxford University Press. pp. 377–402. ISBN   978-0-19-823384-8.
3. Magdalena Opała-Owczarek; Tadeusz Niedźwiedź (2019). "Last 1100 yr of precipitation variability in western central Asia as revealed by tree-ring data from the Pamir-Alay". Quaternary Research . 91 (1): 81–95. Bibcode:2019QuRes..91...81O. doi: 10.1017/qua.2018.21 . S2CID   135070111.
4. Памиро-Алай, Great Soviet Encyclopedia
5. Гиссаро-Алай, Great Soviet Encyclopedia
6. Soviet Union military map 1:500.000 J-42-Б

External links

• Media related to Pamir Mountains at Wikimedia Commons