The Shyok River is a tributary of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

that flows through northern Ladakh and enters Gilgit–Baltistan, spanning some . The Shyok River originates at the

Rimo Glacier __NOTOC__ The Rimo Muztagh is one of the most remote subranges of the Karakoram range. The southern part of Rimo Muztagh is in the Ladakh portion of far northwestern India, also claimed by Pakistan. The northern half, including the Rimo massi ...

, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. Its alignment is very unusual, originating from the Rimo glacier, it flows in a southeasterly direction and, joining the Pangong range, it takes a northwestern turn, flowing parallel to its previous path. Shyok Valley widens at the confluence with the Nubra River but suddenly turns into a narrow gorge near Yagulung (), continuing through Bogdang, Turtuk and Tyakshi before crossing into

Baltistan Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...

. The valley again widens near its Saltoro River junction at Ghursay. The river joins the Indus at Keris, east of the town of Skardu. The Nubra River, originating from the Siachen glacier, also behaves like the Shyok. Before Diskit, the southeasterly flowing river Nubra takes a northwest turn on meeting the river Shyok. The similarity in the courses of these two important rivers probably indicates a series of paleolithic fault lines trending northwest-southeast in delimiting the upper courses of the rivers.

Name

The name ''Shyok'' (or ''Shayog'') is derived from Tibetan ཤག་མ (''shag'') 'gravel' + གཡོག་ (''gyog'') 'to spread' and therefore means 'gravel speader', referring to the large quantities of gravel that the river deposits when it floods. The name is sometimes incorrectly glossed as 'river of death'.

Valley

The Shyok Valley is the valley of the Shyok River. It is near the Nubra Valley. Khardung La on the

Ladakh Range The Ladakh Range is a mountain range in central Ladakh in India with its northern tip extending into Baltistan in Pakistan. It lies between the Indus and Shyok river valleys, stretching to 230 miles (370 km). Leh, the capital city of Lad ...

lies north of

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

and is the gateway to the Shyok and

Nubra Nubra, also called Dumra, is a historical region of Ladakh, India that is currently administered as a subdivision and a tehsil in the Leh district. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name ...

valleys. The Siachen Glacier lies partway up the latter valley.

Tributaries

The Chang Chen Mo River is formed in the vicinity of Pamzal in Changchinmo plains of Ladakh and flows westward. It ends when it empties into the Shyok River. The Galwan River is in the southern part of Aksai Chin, Galwan originates in the area of Samzungling and flowing to the west joins the Shyok River. The Nubra River is a tributary of the Shyok River, which flows into the Indus River. It flows in the Ladakh region of India. The Saltoro River begins in the skirts of the Saltoro Kangri peak ridge and flows to the southwest. Another branch starts from the western Siachen glaciers and flows to the west to join it at Dumsum village. North of the Ghursay Valley, it meets Mashburm Peak's Hushe River and empties into Shyok River just southwest.

Gallery

File:View of bridge over Shyok River, Khaplu.jpg, Shyok in Khaplu Valley File:Shiyok River.jpg, Kharfaq and Yugu File:Shoyok and Nubra Valley map.jpg, Road marker map

References

*Sharad Singh Negi: ''Himalayan Rivers, Lakes, and Glaciers''. Indus Publishing 1991, *H. N. Kaul: ''Rediscovery of Ladakh''. Indus Publishing 1998, , p. 30-31
restricted online version (Google Books)

Footnotes

External links

''Shyok River''
at the Encyclopædia Britannica
Shyok River
{dead link, date=May 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
"Shyok Valley Project - An Experiment In Suof Jammu and Kashmir"
Tributaries of the Indus River Rivers of India International rivers of Asia Karakoram Rivers of Ladakh Rivers of Gilgit-Baltistan