Populated points. The area is thinly populated. Populated points are small settlements in a view of kishlak. Some settlements have a few tens of habitants, and some a few hundreds habitants. The settlements are concentrated in deep valleys of the river Gunt and river Shakhdara. The settlements are rarely built-up and without any order. Typical living buildings look like wattle and daub, or stone one-story houses with flat roofs. Besides, there are light prefabricated constructions covered with felt (so-called yurtas). Most of the settlements have electric power, telephone and telegraph connections. People use river and spring water. Sanitary conditions are satisfactory. During the summertime, some of the inhabitants take their flocks of sheep and go into the mountains to the summer pastures. There are also some temporary settlements (mainly in the river valleys) which consist of wattle and daub buildings. Nearby the temporary settlements there are often sheep-pens.

Road network. The road M-41 (named Horog-Mukhab) is partly asphalt and partly gravel; the width of the road fit for traffic is 6-8 meters, the width of subgrade is 8-12 meters. In a period from November to January this road in its crossing parts is exposed to snow-drifts. Dirt country tracks and field roads run along the river valleys. The main communications in the area are paths; like the dirt roads, the paths are built on the river valleys. Many of the paths are completely covered with snow during wintertime, especially in crossing places. Many of the passes may be reached only with yaks. Traffic is possible through the road Horog-Mukhal, and through the other roads - only during the dry time of year.

Relief and Soils. The area is covered with the mountainous almost insuperable ranges (Severo-Alichuisky, Yuolgno-Alichuisky, Rushansky, Batchor and mountains Botchigir), which are located between mountain systems of East Pamir and West Pamir. The predominant elevation of ranges is 5,000.00 to 6,000.00 meters. The highest peak is Patkhor Peak (6,083.00 meters) in the North-west. The crests of ranges are narrow, rocky, the tops are pointed, peak-shaped, and seldom rounded or flat. The slopes are steeply dipping (30-40° and more), they often look like perpendicular scarps covered with the network of deep rain channels. There are rock remains and mid-sized cirque-like hollows on the slopes. From 5,500.00 meters and up, the mountains are covered with perpetual snows and glaciers, occupying more than 1/4 of the terrain. The surface of the glacier is crooked and jointed. The joints hidden under the thin snow pose a serious danger for transportation through the glaciers. People have to protect their eyes from dazzling reflected sun light with sunglasses when moving through the glaciers and snows, and also protect their skin from sunburns. Many of glaciers have their tongues coming down on the wide wash-tub shaped valleys and reaching the 4,500-4,700 meter elevation, where they start mountain rivers. There are also spacious snow fields upon the ranges and mountain tops; often the layers of compressed snow hang over the canyons like benches. Such places are dangerous because of likely snow avalanches, which are more probable from February through April. The mountain valleys are narrow, downcutting as deep as 500-1,000 meters (sometimes 1,500 meters). The canyon-like valleys with perpendicular slopes are also common. The valleys of most large rivers make more comfortable passage-ways, some of which have pack animal paths as well. Outside of valleys the area is not passable even for hikers, unless they use special mountain equipment. The air is very rarefied on the high elevations. That is why cases of mountain sickness are possible among soldiers (difficult breathing, giddiness, ringing in the ears and other symptoms). The intermountain valleys and basins are not large; all of them have usually flat or slightly wavy bottoms. In the intermountain basins there are found so-called "tchukurs", that means that 2-10 meter deep ditches and hills alternate with each other.

Soils are predominantly rocky or stoney (see the diagram). Some parts of mountain slopes are covered with a thin layer of friable soils such as: rock debris, loamy and sandy loamy with high concentration of stones and rock debris. These soils are much thicker in the deeper valleys and basins. On the bottom of the river valleys, the soils are loamy and sandy loamy with pebble mixture. Large territories in this region are occupied with snows and glaciers. Soil waters are more often very deeply located, but here and there they come out as springs. The whole area is seismic; the earthquakes are possible with the force 8-10.

Hydrography. The rivers are not large, almost all of them start out of glaciers. The river width is ordinarily up to 10 meters, the deepness 0.2 to 0.9 meters. Yet the rivers Gunt, Shakhdara and Toguzbulock are 10-50 meters wide and up to 1.5 meters deep. The rivercourse is very fast; (1.5-2 m/s and more); the river beds are rocky, rapid, and the banks are high, steep or precipitous. Often the stream occupies the whole bottom of the valley, but sometimes it is divided by several streams blocked with rocks and stones.

Regime. The rivers freeze at the end of November, and the ice breaks up in April. The overfilling of springs with water is not significant. Maximal increase in the water level is normally in July and August when the glaciers and perpetual snows melt intensively. At that time it becomes very difficult to get over the streams, even very small ones. While crossing rivers during the summertime, one has to consider the very regular daily rhythm of changing in the level of water; most overflowing rivers are at high level during the afternoon hours (2-3pm) and at medium level during the evening. Normal water level sets in September and keeps up during the entire winter until the spring comes.

Vegetation. Vegetation all over the area is sparse, mountain-desert-like. The vegetation cover is very rare, with the shrubs and sub-shrubs (terescken, polin, kepets) dominating. Closer to the snows, these plants give place to cold-resistant sub-shrubs and grasses, which are often pillow-shaped (ostrolodochnic, prolomnic, kamnelomka, etc.). In canyons over the deep river valleys there are found some tamarisk, afed, tal, etc. shrubs. Big areas in the top mountain places are occupied with pure rocks and rock placers, as well as the snows and glaciers lacking in any vegetation.

Climatic Conditions. The climate is frigid, sharply continental, with significant variations of the season and daily air temperatures. Annual sum of precipitation does not exceed 75-100 millimeters. Winter (October through March) is cold, and at elevations of more than 5,000.00 meters, it is severe. The weather is predominantly windy and snowy. During the day time, the air temperature is usually between -7° and -17° C; on the mountain slopes -15° to -25° C; at night tempertures go down to -30° or -40° C, (even below-50° C). Precipitation consists exclusively of dry snow blowing up from the slopes, where it is only up to 0.3-0.5 meters thick. However, deep snow accumulates in the various depressions (such as rain channels, narrow river valleys and basins), and also near the rock foots, big stones, bushes, etc. The snow stays during all winter, and in high mountains (over 4,500 meters) it never melts even during summer. It is hard for people to bear low air temperatures and winds blowing almost without breaks, plus very rarefied air. The spring (April through June) has unstable weather. The transformation to the summer goes very gradually; until the middle of the season, days stay cold, only in May the sun becomes rather hot, provoking the snow melting, yet nights are still very cold, ranging -10° to -20° C. Precipitation more often falls as snow and only in the second part of the spring is it rainy. The summer (July through August) is also fairly cold. Days are moderately warm (8° to 10° C, at the most 21° C), from time to time with light frosts in the mountains. At the elevations over 5,500 meters, the air temperature throughout the entire 24 hours of the day is normally below 0° C (down to 17° C), and only in the afternoon goes up a little bit, but not regularly. Precipitation is rain and snow taking turns. The fall is short (September) and cold, with clear and dry, but windy weather. The air temperature goes down rapidly, so by the end of a season, the cold temperatures are established, along with the snowfalls and strong winds. Winds within the area are mainly controlled by the mountain valley: during the night and morning they blow down the mountain slopes and valleys, and during the day time they blow in the reverse direction. Most often the mountain-valley winds are expressed during summer time.

the Russian Topographic Map index.