## 5 Conclusions  
The major findings of this research are as follows:  
1. The standard RHRS system has been modified to quantify animal activity that is responsible for causing rockfall triggering in the mountainous terrain of Pakistan. The modified model will be known as the Rockfall Hazard Rating System for Pakistan (RHRSP).
2. The quantifying parameters of animal activity are grazing altitude, shoulder width of road, random and permanent animal tracks, and slope steepness. A minimum score will be assigned to a condition when the slope is gentle and there is a minimum chance of falling stones reaching the ground. Conversely, the highest scores will be  
Figure 9: Rockfall Risk map along the Karakoram highway from Besham to Dasu.  
assigned when falling stone from steep slopes directly reach a road with no shoulder width.
3. From the kinematic analysis of rockfalls at 30 stations, it is observed that rockfall failures are mostly of the wedge and topple types associated with steep hard rock cliffs. Fifty-seven percent of the highway falls under very-high and high hazard zones, specifically between Jijal and Pattan villages, and 18% of the moderate hazard zone is distributed throughout the entire stretch. The low-very-low hazard zone is mainly present between Besham and Dubair, covering 25% of the entire stretch. This low-very-low hazard area is most likely due to the gentle slope, lower population, and limited animal activity at altitude.
4. Sixty-seven percent of the entire stretch is under moderate to high and very-high risk between Dubair and Dasu due to narrow road width, limited shoulder width, deep gorges, and insufficient protection measures.
5. Interpretation of conjugate fracture set data through stereographic projection shows that stations 2-7, located within the core zone of Indus syntaxis, indicate the dominance of lateral (strike-slip) stresses due to a syntaxial bend. The rest of the stations are divided into four minor groups i.e., 8-13, 14-18, 19-21, and 22-30. Stations 8, 11, 12, and 13 show northeast-southwest directed thrusting, which matches the region's regional northeast-southwest compression. Stations 9 and 10 show extensional dominance associated with local folding. From stations 14-21, strike-slip and compression stresses are accompanied by the composite impact of thrusting, extension, and strike-slip components. Stations 22, 24, and 28 show north-northeast-south-southwest and northwest-southeast directed thrusting dominance. Stations 25, 26, 29, and 30 depict strike slip components, whereas stations 23 and 27 show the dominant extensional component.
6. This stress variation observed along the entire stretch suggests that this region has complex tectonic architecture, which caused severe deformation in the rocks in the form of fracturing and shearing, ultimately supporting the failure in the form of rockfall toppling and rockslides.  
Conceptualization, J.I.T. Methodology, J.I.T., S.A., software, S.A., U.U. Validation, J.I.T., Q.u.R. Formal analysis, U.U., Q.u.R. Investigation, J.I.T., I.U., U.U. Resources, I.A.K.J. data curation, M.Q., S.A. Writing--original draft preparation, J.I.T., M.Q. Writing--review and editing, M.Q., S.A., N.C. Visualization, J.I.T., M.Q. Supervision, I.A.K.J., N.C. Project administration, I.A.K.J., N.C. Funding acquisition, N.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 41861134008) and The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) (Grant No: 2019 QZKK0902.  
Not applicable.  
The data presented in this study are openly available in [[http://doi.org/10.17632/644](http://doi.org/10.17632/644) xf9t42z.1]([http://doi.org/10.17632/644](http://doi.org/10.17632/644) xf9t42z.1).  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.