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Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers pp 679–682Cite as

Kunlun Mountains

Part of the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series book series (EESS)

Definition

Kunlun Mountains extend about 2,500 km from the Pamirs/China in the west to the Mount Yuzhu in Sichuan, China, in the east, and have an average elevation of 5,000 m. Their highest mount, Muztag, is 7,723 m. In this region there are 6,580 glaciers with a total area of 10,844 km2, and an ice volume of 1,175 km3, which corresponds to about 72% of the glacier area in the whole Kunlun (Liu, 2000). The West Kunlun Mountains lies in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau; the largest glaciers mostly 20–30 km long are distributed in the high mounts between Tianshuihai Pass and the southern Yurunkax River basin; and the alpine type glaciers are usually developed on the West Kunlun where the lands are severely cut and highly shadowed. Ice cap (flat-topped glacier), slope glaciers, and the valley glaciers are mainly developed on the south slope due to advantageous topographical and climatic conditions.

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Kunlun Mountains, Figure 1
Kunlun Mountains, Figure 2
Kunlun Mountains, Figure 3

Bibliography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Rd., 100085, Haidian district, Beijing, China

    Jingshi Liu

Authors
  1. Jingshi Liu
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Correspondence to Jingshi Liu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

  2. New Delhi, India

    Pratap Singh

  3. University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA

    Umesh K. Haritashya

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Liu, J. (2011). Kunlun Mountains. In: Singh, V.P., Singh, P., Haritashya, U.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_652

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