Observations on rock glaciers in the Himalayas and Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan and India

Rock glaciers an abundant in the Lahul and Garhwal Himalayas of northern In dia and the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan. They exhibit morainic and protalus forms and are restricted altitudinally and climatically to si tes above approximately 4000 m asl. and regions where annual precipitation is less than 1000 mm, In these areas, morainic rock glaciers are large, usu ally > 1 km long, > 100 m wide and > 15 m thick. They are advancing over re cent fluvial terraces and modern floodplains. The morainic rock glaciers re cord the advance of ice-cored moraines following retreat of glaciers, likel y since the Little Ice Age. These rock glaciers form a major component of t he landscape and are important conveyors of debris down valley under the in fluence of gravity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.