IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
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Citation Information
5 44 THE DEPRESSIONS ALONG THE NORTHERN AND THE SOUTHERN BASE OF THE TRANSHIM.ALAYA.
uppermost Tsangpo valley is no less than 225 m, higher than the corresponding part of the Selling-tso—Panggong-tso depression.
On p. 537 of this volume the mean altitudes of the passes of the three great mountain systems and the mean altitudes of the two depressions between them, are put together. Examining now the difference of altitude between the Tsangpo from its source to Shigatse, and the mean altitude of the great water-parting passes of the Transhimalaya, we get for the five last stations (from the source to Camp CXCII) 856 m. ; for the five middle stations (from Camp CXCII to a point between Ye and Pusum) 1204 m. ; and for the five stations near and above Shigatse, 1688 m.1 The difference in altitude thus regularly increases to the east, and continues of course to do so also east of Shigatse. The same course of development would have taken place in the case of the two northern depressions and their rivers if the climate had remained moist and if the old rivers had been allowed to erode their valleys without
interruption. No subaerial deposits or solid material of any kind would then have I
been allowed to remain in the valleys, which would have presented the same sculpture and alpine morphology as the Tsangpo valley near Shigatse, though certainly not on the same magnificent scale, for the precipitation must always have been less abundant in the interior than at the margins of the Tibetan highland.
It would be a great mistake to believe that the same enormous lapse of time that has been necessary for the Tsangpo to cut down its valley to a depth of Boo, 1200, I 600 and more meters below the Transhimalayan passes was necessary for the transformation of the Selling-tso — Panggong-tso valley into a series of plateaux through filling up the old valley with subaerial and sedimentary matter. And it would also be wrong to suppose that the deposits of the plateau basins could anywhere have reached a thickness corresponding to the depth of the Tsangpo valley. For
I An examination of the mean altitude of the passes of the Great Himalaya would take us too far. The following passes are mentioned by Burrard in his Sketch, p. 84, though not all of them are situated on the axis of the great range: Tipta (15,600 feet), Rohtang (13,000), Hamta (14 000), Buranghati (15, I 2 I), Shutul (15 , 5 5 5), Kamri (13,250), Burzil (13,500), Manirang (18,6 oo), Baralacha (16,o47,) Thanglang (1 g,460), Pangula (2 0,000), Koru (16,900), Naku (i 8,186), Donkia (r 8, I oo), Tang (15,200) and Zoji (I 1,300). The distribution of these passes along the range is so irregular that they can hardly be said to be representative for the Great Himalaya. However, the average altitude is 15,800 feet or 4817 ni., which is anyhow 728 m. less than the 5 545 m. of the Transhimalaya passes. Remembering that the altitudes of the high peaks on the Himalaya are up to 1 700 m. higher than the high peaks of the Transhimalaya, the figures give us an idea of the enormous differences in the reliefs of the two systems.
On the Zaskar Range, which is the water-parting between the Kumaun Himalaya and Tibet, Burrard mentions the following passes: Lipu Lekh (16,750 feet) , Manghang, Lankpya and Dharma (about 18,000), Untadhura (17,500), Kingri-Bingri (18,300), Balchha (r 7,50o), Shalshal (16,200), Silikank (18,000), Niti (16,500), and the Mana Pass (18,00o). The average altitude of these passes is 17,532 feet or 5345 m., exactly 200 m. lower than the average of the Transhimalayan water-parting passes.
Finally Burrard enumerates the following passes on the Ladak Range which is the water-parting between the Tsangpo and India: Harpo (16,785 feet), Burgi (15,697), Lasirmou (16,9 00), Khardung (17,600), Kay (18,250), Medosi (I 7, 7 0o), Boga (19,200), Ayi (18,700), South of Rakas-tal two passes with 17,100 and 18,200 feet, Photu (15,080), No (16,600), Sheru (17,600), and Kara (17,900). The average is here 17,379 feet or 5298 m., 247 m. less than the average of the Transhimalayan water-parting passes.
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