Question

Which amongst the following is the largest glacier?
1. Sasaini
2. Gangotri
3. Zemu
4. Siachen

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Siachen

The correct answer is Siachen.

• Siachin is the largest glacier.
  • Siachen Glacier, one of the world's longest mountain glaciers, lying in the Karakoram Range system of Kashmir near the India–Pakistan border, extending for 70 km from north-northwest to south-southeast.
  • Siachen glacier, located in the eastern Karakoram Range in the Himalayas.
  • It is one of the five largest glaciers in the Karakoram, situated at an average altitude of 18,000 ft above sea level.
  • At 78 km long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second longest in the world's non-polar areas.
• Hence, option 4 is correct. 

• The Army has made bringing down waste a part of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for troops under the concept of waste management because in the high altitude areas of 18,000 to 21,000 feet nothing degrades at sub-zero temperatures.
  • The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984.
  • The Siachen Glacier is located in the Eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of Point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.
  • The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great drainage divide that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram sometimes called the "Third Pole".
  • The Siachen Glacier is part of Ladakh which has now been converted into a Union Territory.
  • The Siachen Glacier is the world's highest battlefield.
• The largest glacier in the world is the Lambert-Fisher Glacier in Antarctica.
  • At 400 kilometers (250 miles) long, and up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) wide, this ice stream alone drains about 8 percent of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
  • Antarctic ice is up to 4.7 kilometers (3 miles) thick in some areas.