Pakistan - Central Karakorum National Park

The Central Karakoram in the Gilgit-Balitstan region of Pakistan is an extreme mountain area between Skardu and Gilgit. It was declared as the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) in 1993 and today it is the largest protected area in Pakistan, covering over 10,557.73 km2 in the Central Karakorum mountain range. The area is part of the Asian high-mountain system of Hindukush- Karakorum-West Himalaya, and is the highest park in the world. The park is in a highly active tectonic zone. About 60 million to 20 million years ago, the Indian continental plate subducted under the Eurasian plate and, with the effects of extrusion and uplift of the Indian plate, several immense mountains were formed. Huge tectonic forces stemming from this collision of one plate with another have progressively thrown up the Karakoram Mountains making it one of the most tectonically-active locations in the world.