Daken-Daban

(Ritter Range), a mountain range in the western part of the Nan Mountains in China. It is situated between the Ulan-Daban range to the northeast and the Turgen-Daban to the southwest. Length, about 200 km; maximum altitude, 5,926 m. The range is composed chiefly of crystalline schists, sandstone, and phyllite. The mountain surface is only partly dissected. The steep, short slopes change abruptly into sloping plains, covered with pebbles and broken rock, at the foot of the mountains. The central part of the range is covered with glaciers. The vegetation, up to 3,000 m, is of a semishrub, saltbush desert type, and from 3,300 to 3,500 m it is dry shortgrass mountain steppe. In some places between 3,300 and 3,800 m, a subalpine meadow type of vegetation can be found. Above 3,800 m, the terrain is mountain desert, covered with broken rock and occasional clusters of vegetation. The first European to explore the range, in 1879, was N. M. Przheval’skii, who named it in honor of the German geographer K. Ritter.