The majesty of glaciers and snow mountains

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Glacier is called a natural “solid reservoir”Low rainfall, low temperature, high snow line, weak snow melting and slow glacier movements are the hydrological characteristics of glaciers in Xin jiang Xin jiang is a province with the most glaciers the largest area ofglacier and the largest ice reserve in China, as well as one of the areas of modern glacier growth in China. Xinjiang has 18,600 pieces of known glaciers with an area of 23,000km²,accounting for 42 0% of the total area of the glaciers in china The reservation of the glaciers has reached 2,3 trillionkm².There are varying amounts of glaciers in Xinjiang mountain areas among which Tianshan Mountains has the most and the largest glaciers, reaching 9,128 glaciers: calculated according to the area and ice reserve, Kunlun Mountains win with the amount of 12,259,55km²and 1,285.707 billionm³ respectively, Karakoram Mountains is known as the king of mountain glaciers in the world, and among the eight mountain glaciers whose length exceeds 50km in the middle and low latitude regions in the world, six are in Karakoram Mountains. The Rose Glacier at the south slope of Karakoran Mountains is the highest glacier in the world with an area of 1.180km².The Insukati glacier with a length of 40km on the north side of Chogori is the longest glacier in Xinjiang. Batura glacier in the southwestern part has a height of 5,350m from the top to the heel, which isthe biggest difference in vertical height of glaciers in the world. The “Kunlun three peaks of Kongur Tagh, Kongur Tobe Feng and Muztagata are known as the base camp of contemporary glaciers. Muztagata(7,546m above sea level) is named as the”the father oficy mountains”while Muztag peak in the eastern Kunlun Mountains(7, 723m above sea level) is also named”the son of icy mountains”. The one with smallest glacier area is AltaiMountains, which only accounts for 1,3% of the total of Xin jiang, with only 1% of the glacier reserve and 2%o of the water capacity of Xinjiang.

In Tianshan Mountains, most peaks, especially those in the western part have contemporary glaciers which absorb the most water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean and develop to be one of the major sources of rivers. According to the statistics of Glacier Catalogue. there are in Tianshan mountains a total of 9.128 glaciers of all varieties with a total glacier area of 9,253,58km² and a glacier reserve of 1,012.2 billion m³. It is a natural solid reservoir which is equivalent to water amount of Yangtze River flowing into the sea of a year; the annual melting amount is 959 billion m³and the glacier melting water converges into over 200 rivers. The melting water has become one of the important sources of supply for rivers which flows, and moistens and irrigates the wide oases in south and north Tianshan Mountains, which has the most glaciers in Xinjiang and also in China Kanas Glacier, located in the Friendship Peak of Xin jiang Altai Mountains, is a composite valley glacier composed of two ice streams with a length of 10,8km, an area of 3013km², an ice reserve of 393km, and a glacier terminus of 2,416m above sea level and is the glacier with the lowest terminus in China.

Muztagata mountain known as”father of the glacier”is located in bulunkou town Akto，with an elevation of 7，509 m.The ice layer on the peak is 100-200 m.It is said that an iceberg princess，who lived on the peak of the Muztagata Mountain，fell in love with snowmountain prince in the opposite peak，Chogori，the second highest peak in the world，with an elevation of 8，116 m The flagitious heavenly king was very unhappy to know that，so he used a god stick to split these two linked peaks and separate the iceberg princess and snow mountain prince who truly loved each other.As iceberg princess missed the snow mountain prince all day long，she constantly shed tears，which eventually flowed into lines of glaciers it was called”father of the glacier because the accumulated snow does not melt all the year round and ice pellets shine on the mountain，which is like an old father with white beard and hair，and also because it is the earliest peak to form glaciers，rare to show its”real appearance”，leaving deep and mysterious impression of an old man on people.If it is sunny and cloudless，you will see snow capped peaks with lines of glaciers extendingdownward blow the snow line，as if they were white skirt and long sleeves while iceberg princess sings and dances for the snow mountain prince Muztagata Mountain is tall，rugged solemn，pure and elegant，so that the beautiful legend is regarded as a symbol of pure love y young men and women of Tajik.

Friends，have you seen Visitors on the Icy Mountain？It is a classic movie describing the beautiful scenery on Pamirs and folk customs of Tajik.The saussurea involucratablossoming on the alpine snowfield symbolizes the romantic love admired by countless young girls；in the movie，the violent wind and driving rain on the icy peaks make thesquad leader of frontier guard a permanent statue of ice which deeply touches numerous audience to tears：the melodious and plain Why Are the Flowers So Red，Miss My Comrades-in-Arms. Saussurea Involucrata on Icy mountain and eagles of the pamir all narrate the soldiers’ valuable heroism like the loftiness of steep mountains and hills.