Shyok River

Shyok watershed
Shyok river and valley
35 metre statue of Maitreya Buddha facing down the Shyok River towards Pakistan.

The Shyok River (Urdu: دریائے شیوک‎; literally "The River of Death" in Yarkandi Uyghur) flows through northern Ladakh in India and the Ghangche District of Gilgit–Baltistan of Pakistan spanning some 550 km (340 mi).

The Shyok River, a tributary of the Indus River, originates from the Rimo Glacier, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. The river widens at the confluence with the Nubra River. The alignment of the Shyok river is very unusual, originating from the Rimo glacier, it flows in a southeasterly direction and, joining the Pangong range, it takes a northwestern turn, flowing parallel to its previous path. The Shyok flows in a wide valley, suddenly entering a narrow gorge after Chalunka, continuing through Turtuk[1] and Tyakshi before crossing into Pakistan. The Shyok joins the Indus at Keris, to the east of the town of Skardu.[2][3]

The Nubra river, originating from the Siachen glacier, also behaves like the Shyok. Before Tirkit, the SE flowing river Nubra takes a NW turn on meeting the river Shyok. The similarity in the courses of these two important rivers probably indicates a series of paleo fault lines trending NW-SE in delimiting the upper courses of the rivers. The importance of the Indus and the Shyok rivers is in the deposition of the thick Quaternary sediments—a treasure trove for geology researchers.

Shyok valley

Shyuk in Khaplu Valley
Kharfaq and Yugu

The Shyok Valley is the valley of the Shyok River situated in Ladakh. The valley is close to the Nubra Valley.

Khardung La on the Ladakh Range lies north of Leh and is the gateway to the Shyok and Nubra valleys. The Siachen Glacier lies partway up the latter valley.

Sort of a map

Tributaries

  • The Chang Chen Mo River is formed in the vicinity of Pamzal in Changchinmo plains of Ladakh and flows westward. It ends when it empties into the Shyok River.
  • The Galwan River is in the southern part of Aksai Chin, Galwan originates in the area of Samzungling and flowing to the west joins the Shyok River.
  • The Nubra River is a tributary of the Shyok River, which flows into the Indus River. It flows in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
  • The Saltoro River begins in the skirts of the Saltoro Kangri peak ridge and flows to the southwest. Another branch starts from the slopes of the Masherbroom peak and flows to the south to join Saltoro. In the end this river empties into Shyok River near the coldest part of Pakistan the town of Khaplu.

See also

References

  • Sharad Singh Negi: Himalayan Rivers, Lakes, and Glaciers. Indus Publishing 1991, ISBN 81-85182-61-2
  • H. N. Kaul: Rediscovery of Ladakh. Indus Publishing 1998, ISBN 81-7387-086-1, p. 30-31 (restricted online version (Google Books))

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Turtuk, the village on the India-Pak border, is where the clichés stop and fantasies begin".
  2. ↑ Aerial view of river junction
  3. ↑ Bennett-Jones, Owen; Brown, Lindsay; Mock, John (1 September 2004). Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway. Lonely Planet Regional Guides (6th Revised ed.). Lonely Planet Publications. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-86442-709-0. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
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