Gissar Range

a mountain range in Middle Asia, in the western part of the Pamiro-Alaisk mountain system (in the Uzbek SSR and the Tadzhik SSR). The watershed for the Zeravshan and Amu Darya river basins. Length, approximately 200 km (exclusive of southwestern spurs). Height, up to 4,643 m. The Gissar Range is composed primarily of crystalline rocks, shales, and sandstone, broken with intrusions of granite. Picturesque Lake Iskanderkul’ is located in the central part (altitude, 2,176 m). There are subtropical high-grass steppes on the lower slopes, grain-bearing steppes and tree and shrub vegetation higher, and subalpine meadows, highland xerophites, and short-grass alpine meadows still higher.