Tibetan Plateau

About Tibetan Plateau

• Tibetan Plateau is a vast, high-elevation plateau in Asia.
• Other Names: It is called the “Roof of the World” and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
• Location and extension: It lies in southwestern China.
  • It lies between the Kunlun Mountains in the north and the Himalayas in the south,
  • It extends from the Pamir Plateau in the west to the eastern highlands near the Loess Plateau.
• Formation:
  • Plate Collision: Around 45 million years ago, the northward-moving Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate, causing intense compression of the Earth’s crust.
  • Crustal Deformation and Uplift: The collision led to folding, faulting and thickening of the crust, which caused the land to rise to great heights.
  • Formation and Continued Uplift: This process resulted in the formation of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.
    • The plateau is still slowly rising, although its rate of expansion has reduced over time.
• Key Features:
  • Climate: High altitude causes cold and dry conditions, with very cold winters and short cool summers.
  • Relief: It has high plains, rugged mountains, deep valleys and grasslands.
  • Terrain: Northern areas have cold deserts; the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is one of the deepest canyons.
  • Rivers: It is the source of the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Yellow River and Mekong.
  • Lakes: It has both saltwater and freshwater lakes.
    • Saltwater lakes: Qinghai Lake and Namtso
    • Freshwater lakes: Manasarovar, Yamdrok and Pangong Tso
  • Glaciers: It has more than 46,000 glaciers.
  • Role in Influencing Climate:
    • In summer, strong heating creates a low-pressure area that draws moist ocean winds.
      • This supports the southwest monsoon and influences rainfall in India.
  • Vegetation: The plateau mainly has alpine shrublands, sedge meadows and alpine steppe, with vegetation becoming drier from southeast to northwest.
  • Flora: Common vegetation includes Kobresia and Carex sedges, alpine forbs, juniper, dwarf rhododendron, Caragana and dwarf willow.
  • Fauna: It supports Tibetan wild ass, Tibetan gazelle, blue sheep and white-lipped deer, along with predators such as the snow leopard, gray wolf and brown bear.

Gangdise Mountains

• Location: The Gangdise Mountains are located in the southwestern part of Tibet, parallel to the Himalayas.
• Extensions: The range runs in a northwest-southeast direction and extends eastward into the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains.
• Other Name: The mountains are also known as Gangdise Shan and the Kailas Range.
  • It is also called “Transhimalaya” because it lies behind the Himalayas, separated by the Tsangpo valley.
• Key Features:
  • Peaks: Its highest peak is Mt. Loinbo Kangri (7,095 m), while Mt. Kailash (6,656 m) is its main peak.
  • Watershed: It forms a watershed between the inland water system and the Indian Ocean water system.
  • Relief: The southern side has steep slopes, while the northern side gradually becomes more level.
  • Geological Age: The range has experienced volcanic activity for about 100 million years, making the Gangdise Shan geologically older than the Himalayan Range.
  • Volcanic Features: Although there are no active volcanoes today, the range still has several hot springs and geysers.