Shakhdara

(also Iuzhnaia Shakhdara, Dzhaushangoz), a river in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Tadzhik SSR; a left tributary of the Gunt River of the Amu Darya basin. The Shakhdara is 142 km long and drains an area of 4,180 sq km. Fed by glaciers and snow, the river has a mean flow rate of 35.2 cu m per sec. High water occurs in July. The Shakhdara is used for irrigation.

a mountain range in the southern part of the Western Pamir, in the Tadzhik SSR. The range is the watershed for the Shakhdara and Piandzh rivers. Its western part, the meridional Ishkashim Range, measures 95 km in length, rising to a maximum elevation of 6,096 m at Mt. Mayakovsky. The sublatitudinal Shakhdara Range proper, which constitutes the middle and eastern parts, measures 105 km long and rises to a maximum elevation of 6,726 m at Karl Marx Peak. High-mountain steppe and meadow steppe are found on the slopes. There are also glaciers; total glaciated area is approximately 433 sq km.