Abstract
UNDER the above title, Mr. J. M. Lacey in an article in the Engineer for October 14 gives an account of the formation of the great ice dams which form across the Upper Shyok River in Kashmir, and of the floods in the Indus valley which result from the release of the large volumes of water pent up behind the dams. The Upper Shyok has its source in the Rima Glacier in the Karakoram region, and in its downward course passes the three important glaciers, Chong Kumdan, 9 miles long, falling 3,000 ft.; the Kichik Kumdan, 7 miles long, falling 3,500 ft.; and the Aktash, 5 miles long, falling 2,000 ft. In the event of heavy accumulation of snow on the eastern range, these glaciers advance rapidly into the Shyok gorge. On occasions they flow right across the river until they strike the precipitous cliffs on the opposite side, and sometimes turn down the bed of the river for hundreds of yards. The first recorded damming of the Shy ok occurred in 1779, the water breaking through and causing a flood the following year. Since then the river has been dammed many times but experts find great difficulty in forming any conclusion regarding the periodicity of the advance and retreat of the glaciers. One observer, Major Mason, however, considers that after 1932 there will be no danger of a block for another thirty years.
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Shyok Glaciers and Indus Floods. Nature 130, 771–772 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130771d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130771d0