Zaskar

a mountain range in the northwestern Himalayas in India and China. Length (from northwest to southeast), about 600 km. Maximum altitude, 7,756 m (Mt. Kamet). The base of the range is a wide plateau, up to 6,400 m in altitude, deeply dissected by cross-sectioning ravines. Over this base rise individual alpine peaks of over 7,000 m in elevation. The range is formed from limestone, sandstone, schist, and granite. There is much year-round snow and many glaciers. On the southern slope are woods of Himalayan cedar up to 4,000 m; higher up are subalpine and alpine meadows and year-round snow; in the north, mountain steppes with wormwood predominate. In the valleys there are small agricultural areas: barley is raised at elevations lower than 4,000-4,200 m. Corundum is found in the range.