The Hindu Kush is a mountain system in Asia, lying in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. It is about 800-km long, with an average width 250 km. The maximum height is 7,690 m of altitude (Mount Tirich Mir in Pakistan). This mountain range stretches obliquely from northeast to southwest. The most important ranges are the Baba, the Paghman, and the Hindu Kush proper. The latter is divided orographically into the western, central, and eastern Hindu Kush, the borders of which are the valleys of the Surkhab and Kokcha rivers.
The western Hindu Kush is relatively low, the typical height being 3,500-4,000 m. The ranges of the central Hindu Kush (heights to 6,059 m) are located to the east and northeast of Kabul; their southern spurs and the Hindu Raj range form the complex mountain region of Nuristan. The eastern Hindu Kush in its western part exceeds 6,000 m and has large glaciers; on the east extends a desolate high mountain plateau, recalling the landscapes of the eastern Pamirs; its altitude is about 4,000 m, with mountains slightly raised above it. The lowest pass is the Baroghil Pass (3,777 m). The height of the snowline is about 5,000 m.
Geological Origin and Structure
The Hindu Kush are young mountains that arose from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian continental plates beginning about 50 million years ago, during the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era. They are a part of the "young Eurasian mountain range which are geologically composed of metamorphic rocks such as schist, gneiss and marble, as well as of intrusives rocks such as granite, diorite of different age and size". An important role in the structure of the axis zone of the Hindu Kush is played by the massifs of granitoid, dating from the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic. The ancient deep fault along which the Parwan chain of valleys is located is also of great structural significance. The mineral wealth of the Hindu Kush includes coal (northern part), high-quality iron ore (deposits at Hajigak in the Baba range), polymetal ore, and beryllium (Nuristan); there are deposits of gold ore, lapis lazuli, barites, sulfur, graphite (Badakhshan), celestine, and talc.
Climate
The climate of the Hindu Kush is varied, with clearly differentiated vertical zones from the semi-wilderness and steppe zone in the foothills and wide valleys between mountains to the high-mountain nival or cold deserts of the Tibetan type. The northern and northwestern slopes are located in the zone influenced by the western shift of air masses. The precipitation on these slopes is 400-800 mm per year; on the southern and southwestern slopes, about 300 mm. The eastern regions of the Hindu Kush are the driest; in the inner mountain valleys, precipitation is about 50 mm. The most humid area is the southeast Hindu Kush (Nuristan), which is influenced by the summer monsoon (as much as 1,000 mm of precipitation per year); it has semi-humid subtropical characteristics. The high-mountain climate is especially severe and results in extensive glaciation (6,200 sq km). Fed by melting snow and glaciers, the rivers of the Hindu Kush are of the mountain type, with their highest level in spring and summer. The Turano-Indian watershed passes through the Hindu Kush and is an important climatic and landscape boundary.
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| Above, physical map of Afghanistan, showing the Hindu Kush mountain range lying in the northeast of the country. |