The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps ( Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in northern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

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 ...

. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turkish and

Pontic Greek Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...

languages. The term ''Parhar'' originates from a Hittite word meaning "high" or "summit". In

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

, the mountains were called the Paryadres or Parihedri Mountains.

Geography

The range runs roughly east–west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. It extends northeast into

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and west into the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...

, with the northwestern spur of the

Küre Mountains Küre Mountains ( tr, Küre Dağları, formerly İsfendiyar Mountains) is a mountain range in the Black Sea Region, Turkey. It stretches close and parallel to the central part of the southern coast of the Black Sea The Black Sea is a ma ...

(and their western extension the Akçakoca Mountains) and the Bolu Mountains, following the coast. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar Dağı, which rises to . The

North Anatolian Fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) ( tr, Kuzey Anadolu Fay Hattı) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward fro ...

and the

Northeast Anatolian Fault The East Anatolian Fault ( tr, Doğu Anadolu Fay Hattı) is a major Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, strike-slip fault zone in eastern Turkey. It forms the transform fault, transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the n ...

, which are east–west-running

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

s, run along the length of the range.

Ecology

The mountains are generally covered by dense forests, predominantly of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s. The

Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion located in northern Anatolia, Turkey. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of . It covers portions of the Pontic Mountains, which extend east and ...

is an ecoregion which covers most of the range, while the

Caucasus mixed forests The Caucasus mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as the adjacent Lesser Caucasus range and the eastern end of the Pontic Mountains. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of , ext ...

extend across the far-eastern end of the range, known as the

Kaçkar Mountains The Kaçkar Mountains ( tr, Kaçkar Dağları; hy, Խաչքարի լեռներ, lit=Mountains of Khachkars), formerly known as the Lazistan Mountains or the Mountains of Khaghtik (), are a mountain range that rises above the Black Sea coast in n ...

. The narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Black Sea, known as

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

, is home to the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, which contain some of the world's few

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American ...

s. The region is home to Eurasian wildlife such as the

Eurasian sparrowhawk The Eurasian sparrowhawk (''Accipiter nisus''), also known as the northern sparrowhawk or simply the sparrowhawk, is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Adult male Eurasian sparrowhawks have bluish grey upperparts and orange-barred ...

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...

eastern imperial eagle The eastern imperial eagle (''Aquila heliaca'') is a large bird of prey that breeds in southeastern Europe and extensively through West and Central Asia. Most populations are migratory and winter in northeastern Africa, the Middle East and South ...

lesser spotted eagle The lesser spotted eagle (''Clanga pomarina'') is a large Eastern European bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles, and other more heavy-set Acc ...

Caucasian black grouse The Caucasian grouse or Caucasian black grouse (''Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi'') is a large bird in the grouse family. It is closely related to the black grouse (''L. tetrix''). Description As with many gamebirds, the cock (male) is larger than the he ...

red-fronted serin The red-fronted serin or fire-fronted serin (''Serinus pusillus'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It prefers high mountain regions and is 11–12 cm long. This bird breeds in the Caucasus and the higher mountai ...

, and

wallcreeper The wallcreeper (''Tichodroma muraria'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the high mountains of the Palearctic from southern Europe to central China. It is the only extant member of both the genus ''Tichodroma'' and the family Tichodr ...

. Winter conditions are very harsh, and snow even in summer months isn't unusual above certain elevations. The

Anatolian Plateau The Anatolian Plateau () is a plateau that occupies most of Turkey's surface area. The elevation of the plateau ranges from 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000 to 4,000 ft). Mount Erciyes near Kayseri is the peak at 3,917 m (12,851 ft) ...

, which lies south of the range, has a considerably drier and more

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

than the humid and mild coast, owing to the mountains'

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

effect.Pontic Mountains and highlands

References

Mountain ranges of Turkey Physiographic provinces Black Sea Region Landforms of Rize Province Important Bird Areas of Turkey {{BlackSeaTR-geo-stub