ICSE Class 8 Answered

a. The Central Mountains

1. The Central Mountains lie to the south of the Central Lowlands. Almost all the mountain ranges of Asia spread out in different directions from the Pamir Knot.
2. The Hindu Kush and the Sulaiman Mountains lie to the west of the Pamir Knot. The Hindu Kush Mountains extend to northern Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to the border of Iran. This range is known as the Elbruz Mountains along the shores of the Caspian Sea. The Sulaiman Mountains runs westwards as the Zagros Mountains along the coast of Iran and continue further westwards into Turkey as the Taurus Mountains.
3. The Plateau of Iran and the Plateau of Anatolia are the two intermontane plateaus in the regions.
4. Four mountain ranges run to the east of the Pamir Knot- the Himalayas, the Karakoram Range, the Kunlun Mountains and the Tien Shan mountain ranges. The Himalayas are young fold mountains which run into India and Nepal. It has Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world. It runs further east and is known as the Arakan Yoma in Myanmar.
5. The Karakoram Range lies to the north of the Himalayas. The second highest peak in the world, Mt. K2 lies in this range. The Kunlun Mountains runs into China. The Tien Shan Mountain is the northern-most branch running out from the Pamir Knot and extends into China.
6. Some other important ranges of the region are the Altai Mountains, Khingan Mountains, Stanovoy Mountains etc.
7. Two intermontane plateaus in the region are the Plateau of Tibet and the Plateau of Mongolia. The Plateau of Tibet is the highest plateau in the world.