The Jebal Barez is a mountain chain in the Kerman Province of

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 ...

. This mountain range stretches for some 100 km north-west to south-east, parallel to the

Halil Rud Halil Rud ( fa, هليل رود, also Romanized as Halīl Rūd; also known as Deh-e Halīl Rūd) is a village in Javaran Rural District, Hanza District, Rabor County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 238, in 50 fam ...

, to the north-east of

Jiroft Jiroft ( fa, جیرفت, also Romanized as Jīroft; formerly, Sabzāwārān, Sabzevārān, Sabzevārān-e Jiroft, and Sabzvārān) is a city and capital of Jiroft County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 95,031, in ...

and to the south-west of Bam, rising to a maximal elevation of 3,750 m. The mountains of this range are continued by other mountains such as Mount Shahsavaran and Mount Hudian to the south-east. They separate the plain of

Hamun-e Jaz Murian Hamun-e Jaz Murian ( fa, هامون جازموریان) is an inland basin or depression in southeast Iran, straddling the provinces of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan. The area of Hamoon and Jazmourian basin stretches to 69,600 square kilom ...

from that of Namakzar-e Shahdad and

Lut desert The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut ( fa, دشت لوت, "Emptiness Plain"), is a large salt desert located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included on U ...

Etymology

The root of the name of this mountain is identical to that of the

Alburz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

in northern Iran and the Elbrus in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

, and therefore, it is likewise derived from an unattested

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...

term *''Harā Brzatī'', cognate with

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''Harā Bərəzaitī'' (see Harā Bərəzaitī), meaning "high watchpost". The more proper spelling of the name of this mountain is Albarez. ''Albarez'' is of the same construct as the names

and Elbrus. The ancient Iranian people seem to have given this name to the tallest mountains in any area that they happened to live (exactly as the Turkic people did when they called all the tallest mountains in their sight, " Qaradağ"/ Karadag, with the term qara/kara standing for great/big, as well as color black). In fact, into the early 20th century, the northern portions of the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

mountains near

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

Mazar-i Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

was also known as Mt. Alburz, as recorded by the British travelers like Alexander Burnes.

Geology

Made chiefly of

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

extrusive Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contras ...

and intrusive rocks, Jebal Barez mountain chain is situated in what is called the

Central Iranian Range The Sahand-Bazman Volcanic and Plutonic Belt or the Sahand-Bazman Igneous Arc or the Central Iranian Range is a mountain range that is made by (both extrusive and intrusive) igneous and pyroclastic rocks. Located East and almost parallel to the Z ...

, the

Sahand Sahand ( fa, سهند), is a massive, heavily eroded stratovolcano in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. At , it is the highest mountain in the province of East Azarbaijan. Sahand is one of the highest mountains in Iranian Azerbaijan, ...

Bazman Bazman ( fa, بزمان, also known as Kuh-e Bazman) is a dormant stratovolcano in a remote desert region of Sistan and Baluchestan Province in south-eastern Iran. A 500-m-wide crater caps the summit of the dominantly andesitic-dacitic volcano ...

volcanic range or belt, a mountain range which was formed mainly during Eocene

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called ...

and

plutonism Plutonism is the geologic theory that the igneous rocks forming the Earth originated from intrusive magmatic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion wearing away rocks, which were then deposited on the sea bed, re- ...

and that stretches approximately from Sahand Volcano in the north-west of Iran to Bazman Volcano in the south-east of Iran.Geological Map of Iran,

National Geoscience Database of Iran The National Geoscience Database of Iran or in brief NGDIR is a scientific and research government agency in Iran which works in the field of Geology of Iran and centrally manages Geoscience data. This center was established in 1999 in the field ...

, www.ngdir.ir

References

External links

* {{coord, 28, 34, N, 58, 14, E, display=title Mountains of Kerman Province Landforms of Kerman Province