What is the correct sequence of the following mountain ranges as one moves from North towards South? 1. Karakoram 2. Kunlun 3. Ladakh 4. Zaskar Select the answer using the code given below:

Correct — D, 2, 1, 3, 4. Build the sequence from the rivers rather than from memory, because in this part of the world the ranges are defined by the valleys between them. Start furthest north: the Kunlun run along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin and form the northern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, well beyond Indian territory. South of them, across the Yarkand and Karakash valleys, comes the Karakoram, which carries K2 and the great glaciers and is bounded on its own southern side by the Gilgit, Indus and Shyok rivers. Cross the Shyok and you are on the Ladakh Range, which runs between the Shyok and the Indus and forms the north-eastern bank of the Indus. Cross the Indus and you reach the Zaskar Range, which separates the Zanskar valley from the Indus valley and lies immediately north-east of the Great Himalaya. So the order from north to south is Kunlun, Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar — 2, 1, 3, 4.

• (a)1, 2, 3, 4 — Puts the Karakoram north of the Kunlun. The Kunlun lie beyond the Yarkand and Karakash valleys on the Karakoram's northern side, so they come first.
• (b)1, 2, 4, 3 — Wrong twice — it reverses the Kunlun and Karakoram, and also puts the Zaskar north of the Ladakh Range. The Indus flows between those two, with Ladakh on its north-eastern bank.
• (c)2, 1, 4, 3 — Gets the first two right and then swaps the last two. The Zaskar Range lies south-west of the Ladakh Range, on the far side of the Indus valley, and is the closest of the four to the Great Himalaya.

North of the Great Himalaya lies a belt of ranges usually grouped as the Trans-Himalaya, of which the Zaskar, Ladakh and Karakoram are the main members within or adjoining Indian territory, with the Kunlun further north again on the Tibetan Plateau's edge. The Indus is the organising line through this country: rising near Bokhar Chu in the Kailash range in Tibet at about 4,164 metres, it flows north-west between the Ladakh and Zaskar ranges before cutting across the Ladakh Range in a spectacular gorge.

Sequence questions on the Trans-Himalayan ranges are won by anchoring on rivers, not by trying to remember four names in order. Two anchors are enough. First, the Indus runs between the Ladakh Range and the Zaskar Range, so Ladakh is the northern one of that pair. Second, the Shyok separates the Ladakh Range from the Karakoram, and the Karakoram's own northern limit is the Yarkand valley, beyond which is the Kunlun. Chain those and the order builds itself. It is also worth remembering that only two of these four ranges are wholly Indian concerns: the Kunlun lie entirely in China, and the Karakoram is shared between Pakistan, China and India.

• The Kunlun form the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, south of the Tarim Basin, and are one of Asia's longest chains at over 3,000 km.
• The Karakoram spans the borders of Pakistan, China and India; it is bounded on the north by the Yarkand and Karakash valleys and on the south by the Gilgit, Indus and Shyok rivers.
• The Ladakh Range lies between the Shyok and the Indus and forms the north-eastern bank of the Indus.
• The Zaskar Range lies between the Great Himalaya to its south-west and the Ladakh Range to its north-east, separating the Zanskar valley from the Indus valley.
• The Indus flows north-west between the Ladakh and Zaskar ranges before cutting across the Ladakh Range in a gorge.

• Ordering the ranges by height or fame rather than by latitude.
• Placing the Zaskar Range north of the Ladakh Range; the Indus runs between them with Ladakh on the north-eastern bank.
• Forgetting that the Kunlun lie outside India altogether, which is what makes them the northernmost of the four.

As a north-to-south or west-to-east sequence of ranges, rivers or passes, or as a pairing of a pass with the range it crosses.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Ladakh Range is separated from the Zaskar Range by the valley of which one of the following rivers?

  • (a)Shyok
  • (b)Indus
  • (c)Sutlej
  • (d)Chenab

  Answer(b) Indus — it flows north-west between the two ranges, with the Ladakh Range on its north-eastern bank.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Kunlun Mountains form the northern edge of which one of the following?

  • (a)The Deccan Plateau
  • (b)The Tibetan Plateau
  • (c)The Indo-Gangetic Plain
  • (d)The Iranian Plateau

  Answer(b) The Tibetan Plateau — the range runs along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin and marks the plateau's northern rim.