Vakhan

Vakhan

 

a mountain range in the southern Pamir, in the Tadzhik SSR and Afghanistan. It is a watershed for the Pamir and Istyk rivers from the north and the Wakhan Darya and Oksu rivers from the south. Length, 160 km; average elevation, about 5,000 m; maximum elevation, 6,281 m. The Vakhan Range is composed of igneous and metamorphic rock. Its slopes are dissected by glacial trough valleys. There are snowfields and glaciers. (The area of snow, ice, and névé fields is 94.1 sq km.) Sometimes the name “Vakhan Range” is also used for the Shakhdara Range (watershed of the Pamir and Piandzh rivers).