The part of Karakoram Range area is under a National Park
The Central Karakoram which lies in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan is an extreme mountain area between Skardu and Gilgit. It was declared as the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) in 1993. It is the Central region of the Karakoram range and doesn’t include all of the Karakoram range area.
It is the Largest National Park in Pakistan
It is the largest protected area in Pakistan, covering over 10,557.73 km2 in the Central Karakorum mountain range. The areas includes extreme mountains, glacial systems, and surrounding regions.
It is the Highest Park in the World
The area is part of the Asian high-mountain system of Hindukush- Karakorum-West Himalaya and is the highest park in the world. The second highest mountain K2 at an elevation of 8,611 meters (28,251 ft) above sea level is the highest point of the park.
It is one of the Most Tectonically Active Locations in the World
The park is in a highly active tectonic zone. About 60 million to 20 million years ago, the Indian continental plate subducted under the Eurasian plate, and, with the effects of extrusion and uplift of the Indian plate, several immense mountains were formed. Huge tectonic forces stemming from this collision of one plate with another have progressively thrown up the Karakoram Mountains making it one of the most tectonically-active locations in the world.
The density of the Highest Mountains in the World is here
The Karakoram Range region within the Central Karakoram National Park’s borders contains sixty peaks over 7,000 m. and ten of the world’s highest and most famous mountains including four peaks more than 8000m and K2, the second-highest peak in the world. This density of exceptionally high peaks is an important attribute.
The Longest Glaciers Outside Polar region are here
The Karakoram region encompasses the longest glaciers outside the Polar Regions, making up 40% of the parking area. This forms the most important and fragile ecosystem of the entire region. Famous glaciers such as Hispar, Biafo, Baltoro, Batura and Chogo Lungma form complex glacial systems occupying valleys and in some cases entire watersheds.
Landslides are very common causing Destruction as well an opportunity for re-creation
In an area of such intense geomorphological activity, it is not surprising that landslides are a common occurrence. The region of the Karakoram has an ambivalent relationship with these events, on the one hand, they bring disaster and destruction, but at the same time, they reconfigure the landscape, creating new landforms with potential for habitation and agriculture. For example, villages and their fields are often located directly on land resulting from former landslides. one example is Attabad that caused the destruction of the villages.
It has a variety of eco-system allowing different kinds of plants and animals to grow and live there
The Karakorum Range lies in a transitional zone between the arid Central Asia and the semi-humid tropics of South Asia. There is a variety of ecosystems, from rock cliffs to juniper shrubland, conifer and broadleaf forests and alpine pastures, home to a very high level of biodiversity. These diverse ecosystems provide a refuge for threatened species of mammals such as markhor, musk deer, snow leopard, Ladakh urial and Marco Polo sheep, and also for important “flagship” species including the Himalayan Ibex and Lynx, Blue Sheep and Grey Wolf.
It is one of the Largest Migratory Bird Routes in the World
This environmental “hotspot” is also reflected in one of the most diverse avifauna of the mountainous regions of the world, with approximately 90 species of birds in 13 families known to occur in the CKNP. Alpine and moraine lakes are important stopovers on the Indus flyway and are part of one of the largest migratory bird routes in the world.
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