edgepedia

Mountains, plains, and other land terrain

1,616 articles

Kangze'gyai

Kangze'gyai (团结峰, Tuanjie Peak, Gangzewujie) is the highest peak of the Qilian Mountains, Qinghai, China, about 5,808–5,827 m, an ultra with 2,231 m prominence, first climbed in 1958.

Kanjiroba

Kanjiroba is a 6,883 m (22,582 ft) mountain in the Kanjiroba Himal of far western Nepal's Dolpa District, the highest peak of that range, first climbed in 1970.

Karaca Dag

Karaca Dag (Karacadağ, Karacalidag), a broad basaltic shield volcano in SE Turkey near the Syrian border, 1,957 m, ~10,000 km², active since ~11 Ma with Siverek, Karacadağ, and Ovabağ stages; largest circum-Mediterranean anorogenic shield volcano.

Karakoram

Karakoram: Central Asian mountain range spanning China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, known for the Karakoram anomaly of stable glaciers, the Karakoram Fault, and the 1,300 km Karakoram Highway.

Karakum Desert

The Karakum Desert (Turkmen: Garagum, "black sand") is a Central Asian sand desert of about 300,000 square kilometers that covers more than 80 percent of Turkmenistan.

Karas Mountains

Karas Mountains (Groot Karasberge), uplifted fault-bounded blocks of ~1,200 Ma metamorphic basement in southern Namibia south of Keetmanshoop; 150-200 mm late-summer rain, sheep and goat farming, Mesoproterozoic volcanic-arc terranes.

Karatau Mountains

Karatau Mountains (Қаратау, Black mountains): a NW-SE Paleozoic mountain range in southern Kazakhstan between the Syr Darya and Chu-Sarysu basins, up to 2,173 m at Bessaz Peak, noted for Jurassic fossils, 123 endemic plants, and the Karatau argali reserve.

Karisimbi

Karisimbi, also Mount Karisimbi, is the tallest Virunga stratovolcano on the DR Congo-Rwanda border, about 4,490-4,507 m, highest point of Rwanda, dormant since roughly 8050 BCE with potassic basanite-to-trachyte lavas.

Karoo

The Karoo is an arid region of South Africa's Eastern, Western, and Northern Cape provinces, about 395,000 km2, divided into Great and Little Karoo by the Swartberg range; it also names the Karoo Supergroup and Basin, famed for Permian-Triassic fossils.

Karst Plateau

Karst plateau: elevated soluble-rock terrain (Kras/Carso between Slovenia and Trieste, the type locality) shaped by dissolution, with sinkholes, caves, sinking streams, large springs, scarce surface water, and distinctive land-use constraints.

Karthala

Karthala (Mount Karthala) is an active basaltic shield volcano, 2,350 m, forming the southern two-thirds of Grand Comore (Ngazidja) Island, Comoros, with a 3.5 x 2.8 km summit caldera, eruptions every 6-8 years, and a last eruption in January 2007.

Karun Kuh

Karun Kuh, also known as Karun Koh, is the culminating summit of the Karun Kuh group of the Ghujerab Mountains in Pakistan's northern Karakoram, first ascended in 1984 by an Austrian expedition.

Kashmir Valley

Kashmir Valley: intermontane Himalayan basin in northern India, drained by the Jhelum, centered on Srinagar; known for Karewa geology, horticulture (apples), handicrafts, tourism, flood and water stress.

Katanga Plateau

Katanga Plateau, high plateau (914–1,829 m) in southeastern DR Congo bounding the Congo Basin; underlain by the Katanga Supergroup and hosting the copper-cobalt Central African Copperbelt.

Katmai

Katmai (Mount Katmai) is a 2,047-m stratovolcano in Katmai National Park, Alaska, whose summit collapsed into a 3 x 4 km caldera during the 1912 Novarupta eruption, the twentieth century's largest.

Kavir & Lut Deserts

Kavir & Lut Deserts: Iran's two great interior deserts, Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert, ~77,000 km²) and Dasht-e Lut (~51,800 km²), endorheic basins on the Iranian Plateau, with the Lut holding record land-surface temperatures of 70.7–80.8°C and World Heritage kalut yardangs.

Kawagebo

Kawagebo (Kawagarbo, 卡瓦格博, Tibetan ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ) is the 6,740 m highest peak of Yunnan's Meili Snow Mountains. Never climbed; a 1991 avalanche killed 17 climbers, and local law has banned mountaineering since 2001.

Kawarani

Kawarani (卡瓦洛日, ཁ་བ་ལུང་རི, Kawaluo Ri) is a sacred twin-summit peak, 5,992 m and 5,928 m, in the Gongkala Mountains of Ganzi, Sichuan, China; first climbed in 2014 by Marcos Costa and Bruce Normand after years of access blocks by local monks.

Kazakh Steppe

Kazakh Steppe (Kirghiz steppe): vast dry grassland of about 804,500 km² across Kazakhstan, from the Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains; homeland of nomadic pastoralism, later ploughed under Soviet agriculture, now partly conserved at Saryarka.

Kazakh Uplands

Kazakh Uplands (Saryarqa, Сарыарқа), also Kazakh Melkosopochnik: eroded peneplain of low mountain ranges in central and eastern Kazakhstan, 300–1,565 m elevation, Paleozoic folded geology, steppe and semi-desert vegetation, UNESCO Saryarka site.

Kebnekaise

Kebnekaise (Giebnegáisi), Sweden's highest mountain in Kiruna Municipality, Lapland. Two summits: bare-rock North Peak 2,096.8 m, highest point since 2019; glaciated South Peak measured 2,088.3 m in 2026.

Keele Peak

Kee Peak, in the Selwyn Mountains of Yukon, Canada, is a summit of the Mackenzie Mountains named for Joseph Kee, a Geological Survey of Canada geologist.

Kegueur Terbi

Kegueur Terbi (also Chegor Tedi, Emi Hessi, Kegueur Tedi) is a mountain in Tibesti Region, Chad, elevation 2,827 m at 21.41667°N, 18.7°E, ranked 5th of 26 Chad peaks by World Measure.

KERTAU

Kertau (Tapkhan Peak, 塔普汗峰) is a 3,282 m ultra-prominent peak in Xinjiang, China, highest point of the Barlik/Dzungarian Gate range; possible first documented ascent by Taozhu Zhou in 2026. Distinct from Kertau, Malaysia.

Khangar

Khangar (Hangar, Вулкан Хангар) is a 1,967 m stratovolcano with a lake-filled Holocene caldera, the southernmost volcano of Kamchatka's Sredinny Range; its VEI 6 eruption about 7,000 years ago produced the KHG marker tephra, and its last dated eruption was around 1500 CE.

Khardung La

Khardung La is a 5,359 m pass on the Ladakh Range about 40 km from Leh, gateway to Nubra Valley and a Siachen supply route; its 5,602 m signboard and highest-motorable-road claim are disputed, with Umling La holding the record.

Kharga Oasis (الواحات الخارجة)

Kharga Oasis (الواحات الخارجة), Egypt's southernmost major Western Desert oasis, lies 200 km west of the Nile at the junction of the Darb al-Arba'in and Darb Ain Amur caravan routes, with the Persian-era Hibis Temple, Roman forts, and the Bagawat Christian necropolis.

Khasi Hills

Khasi Hills: central hill range of the Meghalaya Plateau, northeast India, between Garo and Jaintia Hills; highest point Shillong Peak (~1,960 m), home of Shillong, Sohra and Mawsynram rainfall records.

Khentii Mountains

Khentii Mountains (Хэнтийн нуруу), northern Mongolian range at the Siberian taiga-steppe boundary; Arctic-Pacific watershed of the Onon, Kherlen, and Tuul rivers, home of Burkhan Khaldun and the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area.

Khoid Naiman Nuur

Khoid Naiman Nuur (Хойд Найман Нуур, "North Eight Lakes") is Mongolia's highest Holocene volcano, a 2,532 m basaltic pyroclastic cone (GVP 303015) near the Eight Lakes area, with undated, uncertain eruptions.