Adam Łajczak, Łukasz Pawlik

Landform Analysis 35: 13–16

doi: 10.12657/landfana.035.003 © 2017 Author(s)
Received: 22.12.2017; Accepted: 27.12.2017 This is an open access article distributed under

Report

Field trip in the Kashmir Himalaya

Adam Łajczak1*, Łukasz Pawlik2

Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University, Kraków, Poland, *[email protected]
1

Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland

2

Abstract: This report contains short information about the geomorphological field trip in the Kashmir
Himalaya. The guided trip program includes the following issues: the tectonic characteristics of the relief
of the valleys, the sedimentation effects of the high-energy rivers, the mass movements, and the extent of
the fluvioglacial and glacial forms, the wide river channel of a high-energy river covered in rock blocks, the
genesis of the Kashmir Basin, the recession moraines, the wide braided channels of rivers, and the structure
of the flood plain.
Key words: Sonamarg Valley, Pahalgam Valley, Shopian Valley, Wular Lake, Zanskar Himalaya, India

After the 9th International Conference on Geomor- (Brazil, Germany, Israel, Poland, Romania, Russia,
phology in New Delhi (November 6–11, 2017) organ- United States) took part in a 6-day (November 12–17,
ised by The International Association of Geomorphol- 2017) field trip B4 in the Kashmir Himalaya, North-
ogists and the Indian Institute of Geomorphologists, ern India (Fig. 2).
16 conference participants (Fig. 1) from 7 countries

Fig. 1. Participants of the field trip in the Kashmir Himalaya, the Pahalgam Valley, 2 414 m a.s.l.

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Adam Łajczak, Łukasz Pawlik

were taken to a lodging base at the Mannat Hotel.

This was the starting point from where every day two
buses took us to explore the Kashmir Basin and sur-
rounding river valleys. At the beginning of our stay in
Srinagar Prof. M. Sultan Bhat delivered a talk focused
on the regional relief of the Kashmir Basin (Bhat
2017). The Kashmir region is an intramontane basin
formed in the late Miocene surrounded by the Zan-
skar Himalaya in the north and east and the Pir Pan-
jal Range in the south. Elevations range from 1 560
up to 5 550 m a.s.l. Some 5–4 Ma the Kashmir Basin
was a place of low energy fluvio-lacustrine sediments
(Karewa Formation). The Kashmir Basin is a tectoni-
cally active region with a complex pattern of faulting.
Fig. 2. Map of the Kashmir Basin. Places visited by the field Earthquakes are frequent and the last and most dis-
trip participants are marked (1–4) astrous one was in October 2005 and brought more
Red broken line shows the border between India and Pakistan. than 80 000 casualties.
The programme of the thematic trips was as
The field trip was organised by Prof. M. Sultan follows:
Bhat and his co-workers from Department of Ge- Day 1: Srinagar – Sonamarg Valley – Machoi Glacier
ography and Regional Development, University of (Zanskar Himalaya). When making their stops on
Kashmir, Srinagar. After the flight from New Delhi the way, the participants focused on the tecton-
and arrival at Srinagar participants in the field trip ic characteristics of the relief of the valleys, the
sedimentation effects of the high-energy rivers
(maximum fraction of 3 m) (Fig. 3), the mass
movements, and the extent of the fluvioglacial
and glacial forms. The participants in the field trip
travelled the highest section of the valley (5 km)
on horseback (Fig. 4), watching the morphology
of the trough valley, with vast talus cones below
the retreating glaciers (Fig. 5). The timberline
seen on the slopes of the valley has a winding
shape influenced mainly by snow avalanches. Af-
ter reaching the forefield of the main glacier at
3 000 m a.s.l., the participants viewed a huge
snow bridge where accumulated avalanche snow
extended across the river (Fig. 6). There the field
trip participants were treated to tea by shepherds.
On the way back to the main road in the valley,
Fig. 3. Sediments of a high-energy Himalayan river

Fig. 4. Participants of the field trip in the Sonamarg Valley Fig. 5. Relief of the uppermost part of the Sonamarg Valley

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 Field trip in the Kashmir Himalaya

ticular interest was aroused by the extensive silty

sediments in the Kashmir Basin, which were con-
sidered – as the organisers themselves declared
– to be of limnic and not eolian origin.
The field trip was rounded off with a summary
discussion at the hotel in Srinagar. The field trip par-
ticipants thanked the organisers, especially Profes-
sor M. Sultan Bhat, for their skilful organisation of
the trips. The participants in the field trip expressed
the view that there is a need to establish cooperation
aimed at further geomorphological research in that
part of the Himalayas.

Fig. 6. Snow bridge in the Sonamarg Valley at the elevation

of 3 000 m a.s.l.
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