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THEY ALL GO TO THE PAMIRS

More and more people - physicists, seismologists (сейсмологи), archaeologists (археологи) and other scientists - are visiting the Pamirs, one of the earth's highest mountain systems.

The Pamirs are a natural laboratory for the study of cosmic radiation, which is being studied at the high mountain research camp at Ak-Akhrar, nearly 3.5 miles above sea level.

Tadjikistan is also the most earthquake prone (подверженный) part of the area. There are weak underground tremors practically every day; middling (средний) ones about once a year; severe ones every few years; and really destructive ones (разрушительный) every few decades (десятилетия).

The Pamirs are extremely rich in power resources, for they are the source of powerful mountain rivers like the Vakhsh.

Archaeologists recently made an amazing discovery in the Pamirs - the remains (остатки) of a 10-12th century mining town, high above the clouds. This town is 12,540 feet above sea level, and graves have been found containing a great quantity of things which throw much light on the history of the area.

Botanists find the Pamirs highly interesting, and recently ten expeditions have been working in different parts of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. One of the world's highest botanical gardens is just outside Khorog, capital of the region. Its plan includes study of medicinal herbs (лечебные травы) and, observation of the effect of ultra-violet rays on the growth of trees and other plants.

The Pamirs are one of the largest glacial (ледовитый) zones in the world, so naturally glaciologists (гляциологи) find them interesting. There are more than a thousand glaciers (ледники), one of which, the Fedchenko, is more than 44 miles long.

Hydrographers study the snow cover on the mountains, for agriculture in Central Asia depends on the amount of water in the mountains brought down by its chief rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.

Finally, the Pamirs have a particular interest for students of languages. The area is a kind of linguistic (лингвистический) museum in which many "dead" Iranian languages still live.

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Примечание

(1) what makes me bum - что меня злит