Rushan


Rushan

 

a mountain range in the Western Pamirs, in the Tadzhik SSR. The Rushan is approximately 120 km long. The highest point is Patkhor Peak, with an elevation of 6,080 m. The mountains are composed of granitoids, metamorphic schists, argillaceous slates, quartzites, sandstones, limestones, and gneisses. The crest has a rugged alpine configuration, and there is extensive glaciation. The slopes have a rocky mountain landscape; as the elevation decreases, the landscape changes to subtropical steppe, wormwood semidesert, and mountain valley desert. Willow, sea buckthorn, poplar, hawthorn, and birch are typical of the river valleys of the Rushan.