Editing Skardu (section)

===Geology===
[[File:Baltoro_glacier_from_air.jpg|thumb|Skardu is located near the [[Baltoro Glacier]] – [[List of glaciers#List of longest glaciers on Earth in non-polar regions|one of the world's longest]] outside a [[Polar regions of Earth|polar region]].]]
Skardu is located along the Kohistan-Ladakh [[terrane]], formed as a magmatic arch over a [[Tethys Ocean|Tethyan]] subduction zone that was later accreted onto the [[Eurasian Plate]].<ref name="Schroder Jr-2002" /> The region has low seismic activity compared to surrounding regions, suggesting that Skardu is located in a passive structural element of the [[Main Central Thrust|Himalayan thrust]].<ref name="Schroder Jr-2002" /> The stone in the Skardu region is Katzarah [[schist]], with a [[Radiometric dating|radiometric]] estimated age of 37 to 105 million years.<ref name="Schroder Jr-2002" />

Numerous complex granitic pegmatites and a few alpine-cleft metamorphic rock deposits are found in the Shigar Valley and its tributaries. Shigar Valley contains the Main Karakoram Thrust separating the metasediments (chlorite to amphibolite grade) on the Asian plate from the southern volcanoclastic rocks of the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc.