Mount Süphan ( tr, Süphan Dağı, ku, Sîpanê Xelatê, hy, Սիփան, Sipan) is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

located in eastern

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 ...

, immediately north of

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

. It is the second highest volcano in Turkey, with an elevation of , and has the third highest prominence of the Armenian Highlands, after

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat or , ''Ararat''; or is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and th ...

(5,137 m) and

Mount Aragats Mount Aragats ( hy, Արագած, ) is an isolated four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. Its northern summit, at above sea level, is the highest point of the Lesser Caucasus and Armenia. It is also one of the highest points in the Armenian ...

(4,090 m). The mountain has two peaks, east and west, separated by a 1.5 km-wide basin; there are two small lakes in this basin. The eastern summit is much larger in area and consists of "a wide snow-covered platform of

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

-like bare rock peaks". From here, the whole northern shore of Lake Van is visible, along with Mount Ararat, the Murat Su plain, and even the Palandöken Dag south of

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

. The smaller western summit has fields of lava boulders. A narrow ridge connects the two peaks. All sides of the mountain are marked by lava "ribs". The slope is fairly gentle on all sides except the north. The remains of the small

Urartian Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, ...

fort of Kefirkalesi are located on the southwest slope at a height of 2400 m. This was probably never intended to have a permanent garrison and was mostly to keep local nomadic groups in check. Today, there are a few small villages along the mountain's lower slopes. About 1.5 km west of the village of Harmantepe (formerly Norsunçuk), there is also an ancient cemetery with urns that may have once contained

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

remains.

Gallery

References

External links

Mount Süphan - map
Mountains of Turkey Stratovolcanoes of Turkey Landforms of Bitlis Province Four-thousanders of the Armenian Highland Four-thousanders of Asia Pleistocene stratovolcanoes {{Bitlis-geo-stub

Gallery

See also

References

External links