2014 Prowincja Kotajk, Garni, Wąwóz Garni (28)

The geology of Armenia was shaped by geological upheaval pushed up the

Earth's crust Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...

to form the Armenian Plateau 25 million years ago. This created the complex

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. The Lesser Caucasus range extends through northern Armenia, runs southeast between Lake Sevan and Azerbaijan, then passes roughly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Thus situated, the mountains make travel from north to south difficult.

Earthquakes

Geological turmoil continues in the form of devastating earthquakes. In a December 1988 earthquake, the second largest city in the republic,

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

(then called Leninakan), was heavily damaged by a massive quake that killed more than 25,000 people.

Terrain

About half of Armenia's area of approximately has an elevation of at least , and only 3% of the country lies below . The lowest points are in the valleys of the Araks River and the Debet River in the far north, which have elevations of , respectively. Elevations in the Lesser Caucasus vary between . To the southwest of the range is the Armenian Plateau, which slopes southwestward toward the Araks River on the Turkish border. The plateau is masked by intermediate mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes. The largest of these, Mount Aragats, high, is also the highest point in Armenia. Most of the population lives in the western and northwestern parts of the country, where the two major cities,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

and

(previously called Aleksandropol during the Soviet period), are located. The valleys of the Debet River and

Akstafa River Agstafa ( az, Ağstafa) is a town, municipality (assigned in 1941) and the capital of the Aghstafa District of Azerbaijan. Agstafa district was established in 1939, abolished in 1959 and merged with Gazakh district, became an independent distric ...

as they pass through mountain areas form the chief routes into Armenia from the north. Lake Sevan is by far the largest lake at across at its widest point and long. It lies above sea level on the plateau. Armenia's terrain is most rugged in the extreme southeast, which is drained by the

Bargushat River Bargushat ( hy, Բարգուշատ) is a village in the Kapan Municipality of the Syunik Province in Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. ...

and most moderate in the

Araks River , az, Araz, fa, ارس, tr, Aras The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan excl ...

valley to the extreme southwest. Most of Armenia is drained by the Araks or its tributary, the Hrazdan, which flow from Lake Sevan. The Araks forms most of Armenia's border with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

, while the

Zangezur Mountains The Zangezur Mountains ( hy, Զանգեզուրի լեռներ or Սյունյաց լեռներ, az, Zəngəzur dağları) are a mountain range that defines the border between Armenia's southern provinces of Syunik, Vayots Dzor, and Azerbaijan ...

form the border between Armenia's southern province of Syunik and Azerbaijan's adjacent Nakhchivan autonomous region.

Volcanic mountains

Volcanic mountains in Armenia include Mount Ara, Mount Aragats, Azhdahak, Ghegam Ridge, Mount of Armenia. Porak. Arpi Gorge and Garni Gorge contain columnar igneous rocks (

Columnar jointing Columnar jointing is a geological structure where sets of intersecting closely spaced fractures, referred to as Joint (geology), joints, result in the formation of a regular array of polygonal Prism (geometry), prisms, or columns. Columnar joint ...

Mining

Mines in Armenia include Kajaran Mine and Teghut Mine. Both are open pit mines for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

Fossils

References