Which is the largest glacier of the Trans-Himalayas?
- (a)Biafo
- (b)Siachen
- (c)Baltoro
- (d)Hispar
Correct — B, Siachen.
All four names printed here belong to the Karakoram, the Trans-Himalayan range lying north of the Great Himalaya. Location therefore separates nothing in this option set. The discriminator is length, and Siachen, at about 76 km, is the longest of the four.
Siachen sits in the eastern Karakoram, above the Nubra valley in Ladakh. Its meltwater forms the Nubra river, which joins the Shyok and then the Indus. Biafo, Baltoro and Hispar lie further west, in the Gilgit-Baltistan Karakoram.
Carry the ranking away with the range attached: Siachen is the longest glacier of the Karakoram, and the Karakoram is Trans-Himalayan, not Himalaya proper.
- (a)Biafo — Biafo is a Karakoram glacier of roughly 67 km in Gilgit-Baltistan — long, but shorter than Siachen's 76 km.
It is the right answer to the glacier that meets the Hispar at Hispar La, about 5,128 m, to form the Biafo–Hispar ice corridor, usually described as the longest glacial system outside the polar regions.
Published figures put that corridor at roughly 100 to 120 km; do not arrive at a number by adding the two glaciers' lengths. It is two glaciers joined over a pass, and measured on its own Biafo does not top the Karakoram list.
- (c)Baltoro — Baltoro measures about 63 km, so it falls short of Siachen's 76 km. Largest here is decided by length, and Siachen leads on area too.
It is the right answer to the glacier whose tributaries drain K2, the Gasherbrums, Chogolisa and Masherbrum, meeting at Concordia, and it feeds the Braldu river into the Shigar and the Indus. Its fame comes from those peaks, and fame is not size.
- (d)Hispar — Hispar runs about 49 km, the shortest of the four options, flowing west from Hispar La down towards Hispar village in Nagar.
It is the right answer to the western half of the Biafo–Hispar traverse, the Hunza-side glacier reached over Hispar La. Being one limb of a celebrated long system is a different claim from being the largest single glacier of the Trans-Himalaya.
The Trans-Himalaya is the belt of ranges north of the Great Himalaya, usually taken to include the Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar and Kailash ranges, separated from the Himalaya proper by the upper Indus and its valleys.
A superlative question about glaciers is bounded by the region the stem names. Change the region word and the answer changes with it, even though the glaciers themselves have not moved.
Karakoram ice feeds the Indus system through the Nubra, Shyok and Shigar, so this belt matters for water accounting in the western Himalaya as much as for map work.
Siachen carries a strategic charge as well. Indian forces have held the glacier and the Saltoro ridge since Operation Meghdoot began in April 1984, and the area is commonly described as the world's highest battlefield.
- Siachen lies in the eastern Karakoram, a Trans-Himalayan range, above the Nubra valley in the Ladakh region.
- At about 76 km, Siachen is the longest glacier of the Karakoram.
- Siachen meltwater forms the Nubra river, which joins the Shyok and then the Indus.
- Baltoro, about 63 km, collects ice from K2, the Gasherbrums and Masherbrum and feeds the Braldu river.
- Biafo, about 67 km, meets the roughly 49 km Hispar glacier at Hispar La, about 5,128 m.
- The name Siachen comes from Balti words for a rose-family plant and for abundance — a place of wild roses.
- Baltoro's meltwater reaches the Indus through the Braldu and then the Shigar river.
Range does not separate these four options; length does, and Siachen is the longest.
- The four options are all Karakoram glaciers, so eliminating by range yields nothing here; the comparison is one of size, and Siachen leads on length and on area alike.
- Biafo and Hispar joined over Hispar La span an ice corridor of roughly 100 to 120 km, longer than Siachen, but that is a two-glacier system — singly they measure about 67 km and about 49 km.
- Baltoro is the best-known name because of K2 and Concordia; reputation is not length, and it comes in at about 63 km.
- Reading 'Trans-Himalaya' as a synonym for the Great Himalaya pulls the answer towards glaciers like Gangotri, which belong to the Himalaya proper and the Ganga system, not the Karakoram.
The idea shows up as a superlative pinned to a named region — largest glacier of the Trans-Himalaya, of the Karakoram, of Uttarakhand — where the region word decides which glacier qualifies.
It also appears as pairing and placement work: a glacier matched to the river it feeds, to the range or district it lies in, or a positional stem asking which valley a glacier sits above.
UPSC_2020_GS1_Q962020Same glacier, different axis. That stem asks where Siachen sits — it lies north of the Nubra valley — while this one asks which Trans-Himalayan glacier is largest. One is answered by placing the glacier on the map, the other by comparing lengths within the Karakoram.
UPSC_2019_GS1_Q382019Glacier–river matching that includes the pair Siachen–Nubra, which is correctly matched. The glacier is shared, but the tested link is drainage rather than size, and the pairs range across Himalayan glaciers such as Bandarpunch and Bara Shigri instead of staying inside the Karakoram.
UKPSC_2012_PRE_PaperI_Q112012The same device — longest glacier of a named region — with the region swapped. That item bounds the search to Uttarakhand, in the Himalaya proper, where Gangotri is the expected answer; this one bounds it to the Trans-Himalaya, which moves the answer into the Karakoram.
UKPSC_2016_PRE_PaperI_Q212016Also a glacier item from the same commission, but positional and local: it asks which Uttarakhand district holds the Khatling glacier. No size comparison is involved, and the glaciers lie in the Himalaya rather than the Trans-Himalaya.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Meltwater from the Siachen Glacier directly forms which river?
- (a)Nubra
- (b)Zanskar
- (c)Shigar
- (d)Suru
Answera — The Nubra rises at the Siachen snout and joins the Shyok, which reaches the Indus. The Zanskar rises in the Zanskar range and meets the Indus near Nimmu, well away from Siachen. The Shigar is formed by the Braldu and Basha, fed by Baltoro and Biafo. The Suru rises near the Nun Kun massif in the Kargil area. - practice — not a real PYQ
The Biafo and Hispar glaciers meet at which pass?
- (a)Zoji La
- (b)Hispar La
- (c)Khardung La
- (d)Shipki La
Answerb — Hispar La, about 5,128 m, is the saddle where the two glaciers join to form the Biafo–Hispar corridor. Zoji La links the Kashmir valley with Dras and Ladakh. Khardung La lies on the Ladakh range north of Leh on the road to Nubra. Shipki La connects Himachal's Sutlej valley with Tibet. - practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following is counted among the Trans-Himalayan ranges?
- (a)Pir Panjal
- (b)Dhauladhar
- (c)Ladakh Range
- (d)Shivalik
Answerc — The Ladakh range lies north of the Indus and is grouped with the Karakoram and Zaskar in the Trans-Himalayan belt. Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar are Lesser Himalayan ranges south of the Great Himalaya. The Shivalik is the outermost Himalayan range, along the plains edge. - practice — not a real PYQ
Which glacier collects ice from tributary glaciers draining K2, Chogolisa and the Gasherbrum peaks?
- (a)Siachen
- (b)Hispar
- (c)Baltoro
- (d)Zemu
Answerc — Baltoro is fed by the Godwin-Austen glacier from K2, by the Abruzzi and Gasherbrum glaciers, and by the Vigne glacier from Chogolisa, the ice that gathers at Concordia. Siachen lies further east in the Karakoram, beyond the Saltoro Ridge. Hispar flows west from Hispar La towards Nagar. Zemu is in Sikkim, on the eastern flank of Kangchenjunga.