Which of the following pairs of Himalayan Glaciers and their location is/are correctly matched? 1. Siachen – Nubra Valley Region 2. Chungphar – Kumaon-Garhwal Region 3. Zemu – Central Nepal Region 4. Gasherbrum – Pir Panjal Range Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 2
- (c)2 and 3
- (d)3 and 4
Correct — A, 1 only. Siachen is the pair that holds. The glacier lies in the eastern Karakoram in Ladakh, its snout feeding the Nubra river, and UPSC has itself set a question whose answer is that Siachen sits immediately north of the Nubra valley — so pair 1 is sound. Pair 3 is wrong by a whole country: the Zemu glacier is in Sikkim, draining the eastern face of Kangchenjunga over some 26 km, and it has nothing to do with central Nepal. Pair 4 is wrong by about a thousand kilometres. Gasherbrum is a group of peaks at the north-eastern end of the Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, on the Gilgit-Baltistan and Xinjiang border; the Pir Panjal is the outer Himalayan range that separates the Kashmir valley from the Jammu plains and carries the Banihal pass, not eight-thousanders. That leaves pair 2. The glaciers of the Kumaon–Garhwal Himalaya are a well-catalogued set — Gangotri, Milam, Pindari, Satopanth, Bhagirath Kharak, Chorabari, Panchchuli, Kafni, Ralam, Namik and their neighbours — and Chungphar is not among them, so the pair does not stand and only the first survives.
- (b)1 and 2 — Adds Chungphar to Kumaon–Garhwal, but that region's glaciers are catalogued in detail and Chungphar is not on the roster.
- (c)2 and 3 — Keeps two failures at once. Zemu is a Sikkim glacier at the foot of Kangchenjunga, not a Nepali one.
- (d)3 and 4 — Both of these are wrong. Zemu is in Sikkim and Gasherbrum is a Karakoram massif, while the Pir Panjal is the outer range fronting the Kashmir valley.
Indian glaciers group by range. The Karakoram, in the far north of Ladakh, holds the giants — Siachen at about 76 km is the longest outside the polar regions after one in the Yukon, with Rimo, Chong Kumdan and the Nubra glacier around it. The Kumaon–Garhwal Himalaya in Uttarakhand holds the glaciers that feed the Ganga system: Gangotri for the Bhagirathi, Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak for the Alaknanda, Milam and Pindari in Kumaon. Himachal has Bara Shigri and Sonapani in Lahaul. Sikkim has Zemu on Kangchenjunga. Fixing each glacier to a range, and each range to a river system, answers most of what is asked about them.
Pairs items on glaciers are best attacked from the wrong pairs. Two here are wrong on facts that carry their own evidence — Zemu is on Kangchenjunga, which is on the Sikkim–Nepal border but firmly the Sikkim side, and Gasherbrum is a Karakoram name that no one would confuse with the Pir Panjal if they had once looked at where K2 and the Gasherbrums stand. Knocking those two out leaves a straight choice between the first pair alone and the first two, and Siachen–Nubra is the safest pairing in Indian physical geography. Chungphar is the sort of name that appears in glacier compilations without a settled location, so treat it as the unknown and let the others decide the answer.
- The Siachen glacier lies in the eastern Karakoram in Ladakh, immediately north of the Nubra valley, and feeds the Nubra river.
- The Zemu glacier is about 26 km long and drains the eastern side of Kangchenjunga in Sikkim.
- Gasherbrum is a group of peaks at the north-eastern end of the Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram, on the Gilgit-Baltistan and Xinjiang border.
- The Pir Panjal is the outer Himalayan range separating the Kashmir valley from the Jammu plains; the Banihal pass crosses it.
- Uttarakhand's catalogued glaciers include Gangotri, Satopanth, Bhagirathi Kharak, Milam, Pindari, Chorabari, Panchchuli, Kafni, Ralam and Namik.
- Placing Zemu in Nepal because Kangchenjunga straddles the border; the glacier is on the Sikkim side.
- Treating the Pir Panjal as a high inner range. It is the outer range between the Kashmir valley and Jammu.
- Trying to answer from the unfamiliar name in the list rather than eliminating the pairs you can check.
As a glacier-to-region or glacier-to-river pairs item, with one obscure name planted among three checkable ones.
Consider the following pairs: Glacier — River 1. Bandarpunch : Yamuna 2. Bara Shigri : Chenab 3. Milam : Mandakini 4. Siachen : Nubra 5. Zemu : Manas Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
- (a) 1, 2 and 4
- (b) 1, 3 and 4
- (c) 2 and 5
- (d) 3 and 5
Answer(a) 1, 2 and 4
Almost the same item with rivers in place of regions, and two of the same glaciers in it. UPSC's key confirms Siachen with the Nubra and rejects Zemu with the Manas, since Zemu drains to the Teesta.
Siachen Glacier is situated to the
- (a) East of Aksai Chin
- (b) East of Leh
- (c) North of Gilgit
- (d) North of Nubra Valley
Answer(d) North of Nubra Valley
Settles the first pair of this item on its own. UPSC's answer places Siachen directly north of the Nubra valley, which is the region the CDS pair names.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Zemu Glacier drains the eastern side of which mountain?
- (a)Nanda Devi
- (b)Kangchenjunga
- (c)Nanga Parbat
- (d)Kamet
Answer(b) Kangchenjunga — the Zemu glacier, about 26 km long, lies at its base in Sikkim.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Gangotri Glacier feeds the headwaters of which river?
- (a)Alaknanda
- (b)Bhagirathi
- (c)Yamuna
- (d)Sarda
Answer(b) Bhagirathi — which joins the Alaknanda at Devprayag to form the Ganga.