New whole-rock geochemical analyses along with laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon ages of the granite–rhyolite from the Karakoram Batholith, exposed along the Shyok Valley, NW India, have been performed to understand the timing and geochemical evolution of these magmatic bodies and their implications for the geodynamic evolution of the Karakoram Batholith. New geochronological data on granites and rhyolites along with previously published geochronological data indicate that the Karakoram Batholith evolved during Albian time (~110–100 Ma) owing to the subduction of Tethys oceanic lithosphere along the Shyok Suture Zone. This region witnessed a period of no magmatism during ~99–85 Ma. Following this, the Kohistan–Ladakh arc and Karakoram Batholith evolved as a single entity in Late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene times. Late Cretaceous (~85 Ma) rhyolite intrusions within the Karakoram Batholith show calc-alkaline subduction-related signatures with a highly peraluminous nature (molar A/CNK = 1.42–1.81). These intrusions may have resulted from c. ~13.8 % to ~34.5 % assimilation of pre-existing granites accompanied by fractional crystallization during the ascent of the magma. The contamination of mantle wedge-derived melts with crust of the active continental margin of the Karakoram most likely enhanced the high peraluminous nature of the rhyolite magma, as has been constrained by assimilation fractional crystallization modelling. Two granite samples from the contact of the Shyok Metamorphic Complex and Karakoram Batholith indicate that the post-collisional Miocene magmatism was not only confined along the Karakoram Fault zone but also extends ~30 km beyond the Shyok–Muglib strand.

Livestock depredation has particular significance in pastoral societies across the Himalayas. The dynamics of depredation by the snow leopard Panthera uncia and wolf Canis lupus were investigated by means of household surveys in the Hushey Valley, in the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan. During 2008–2012 90% of the households in the valley lost livestock to snow leopards and wolves, accounting for 0.8 animals per household per year. The cost of depredation per household was equivalent to PKR 9,853 (USD 101), or 10% of the mean annual cash income. The majority (41%) of predation incidents occurred in summer pastures, predominantly at night in open spaces. Of the total number of predation incidents, 60% were attributed to snow leopards and 37% to wolves; in 3% of cases the predator was unknown. As an immediate response to predation the majority of the local people (64%, n = 99) opted to report the case to their Village Conservation Committee for compensation and only 1% preferred to kill the predator; 32% did not respond to predation incidents. The perceived causes of predation were poor guarding (77%), reduction in wild prey (13%), and livestock being the favourite food of predators (10%). The most preferred strategies for predator management, according to the respondents, were enhanced guarding of livestock (72%), followed by increasing the availability of wild prey (18%), and lethal control (10%). Livestock depredation causing economic loss may lead to retaliatory killing of threatened predators. For carnivore conservation and livestock security in this area we recommend improved livestock guarding through collective hiring of skilled shepherds and the use of guard dogs.

Three glacial stages (Deshkit 1, Deshkit 2 and Dishkit 3 glacial stages) are identified in the Nubra and Shyok valleys in northernmost Ladakh, northwest India, on the basis of geomorphic field mapping, remote sensing, and 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating. The glacial stages date to ∼ 45 ka (Deshkit 1 glacial stage), ∼ 81 ka (Deshkit 2 glacial stage) and ∼ 144 ka (Deshkit 3 glacial stage). A mean equilibrium line altitude depression of ∼ 290 m for the Deshkit 1 glacial stage was calculated using the area accumulation ratio, toe-to-headwall ratio, area–altitude, and area–altitude balance ratio methods. Comparison of glaciation in the Nubra and Shyok valleys with glaciations in the adjacent Central Karakoram of northern Pakistan and northern side of the Ladakh Range of northern India indicates that glaciation was synchronous on Milankovitch timescales across the region during MIS-6, but differed greatly in extent, with more extensive glaciation in the Karakoram than the morphostratigraphically equivalent glaciation on the northern slopes of the Ladakh Range. This highlights the strong contrast in the extent of glaciation across ranges in the Himalaya–Tibetan orogen, necessitating caution when correlating glacial successions within and between mountain ranges.