Mountains of Azerbaijan cover approximately 60 percent of the country's land area. There are three mountain ranges in the territory of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, which are the Greater Caucasus, the Lesser Caucasus, and the Talysh Mountains. The elevation of the central mountains of these three mountain ranges is approximately 1000 – 2000 meters. The height of high mountains of the Greater Caucasus is higher than 2200 meters and the Lesser Caucasus is higher than 2000 meters. The Greater Caucasus range forms the north-east borders of Azerbaijan with Dagestan Autonomous Republic of Russia. Bazarduzu, Shahdagh, and Tufandag are the high peaks of the mountain range. The highest peak of the Greater Caucasus is Mount Bazarduzu, which is situated above the sea level, is also the highest point in Azerbaijan. The mountains of the Greater Caucasus are located in the region of high degree of seismic activity. The mountains are formed by rocks that date back to

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

periods. The Lesser Caucasus is the second important mountain range in Azerbaijan and forms its south-western borders. Mount Murovdag and Mount Zangezur are the main ridges of the Lesser Caucasus. They are formed by sedimentary and

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

genic rocks of Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. The Talysh Mountains cover the southeastern part of Azerbaijan and form part of its border with

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 ...

Mountains of the Greater Caucasus

Bazarduzu

The highest peak of the Greater Caucasus, Mount Bazarduzu, is the highest mountain in Azerbaijan. It lies on the borders between

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The rocks of Mount Bazarduzu are formed of shale porphyries. Ice fields that consist of glaciers from

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

on the mountain are the biggest glaciers in the Eastern Caucasus. The first person who climbed the Mount Bazarduzu was Aleksej Aleksandrov from Russia in 1847. Shakhdag

Shahdagh

] The elevation of

Mount Shahdagh Mount Shahdagh ( az, Şahdağ; lez, Кас сув) is a mountain peak of the Greater Caucasus range, located in the Qusar District of Azerbaijan, close to the border with Russia. The elevation of the peak is above sea level. Among the earth rock ...

is , which is the second highest peak in the Greater Caucasus. The mountain is located near to the border with Russia, in Gusar region of Azerbaijan. There are caves at the base of the Mount Shahdagh, which show manmade activities around the mountain for over 9000 years. The rocks of the mountain are formed by

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

s and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

Tufandag

Tufandağ is the third highest mountain in Azerbaijan with the height of .). Mount Tufandag lies in the Gusar region.

Mountains of Lesser Caucasus

Murovdag

Within the Lesser Caucasus, the highest mountain ridge is Murovdag. The range of the mountain is approximately 70 kilometers.

Gamishdag

The highest peak of the Murovdag ridge is Gamishdag and its elevation is 3724 meters.

Zangezur

The Zangezur mountain ridge bordered with Aghdaban peak in north-west and Araz river in south-east. The range of the Zangezur ridge is approximately 130 kilometers. In the center and south-east parts of the ridge, there are Gamigaya, Kaputjukh, Garangush, Davabouynu, Aychingil peaks. Prominent mountains of the Zangezur ridge are Nahajir, Alinja, Ilandag, Gurddag, and Gizilboghaz mountains.

Kaputjukh

Mount Kaputjukh is the highest peak of the Zangezur ridge and the highest mountain in the Lesser Caucasus. The height of the mountain is 3904 meters. It lies in Ordubad region of Nakhchivan. There are ancient Gamigaya inscriptions on the rocks that are at the bottom of the mountain.

Alinja

Mount Alinja is located in Julfa region of Nakhchivan, on the shore of the river with the same name as mountain. The elevation of Mount Alinja is 1811 meters. It has volcanic origins.

Talysh Mountains

Talysh mountains are located in the south – east of Azerbaijan. There are three mountain ridge within the Talysh mountains, which of elevations reach 2477 meters. They are Talysh, Burovar, and Peshteser. There are few peaks that of heights are above . The rocks of the mountains originated from volcanic rocks and carbonate rocks that date back to the

, and

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

periods.

Kyumyurkyoy

The highest peak of Talysh mountains is the Mount Kyumyurkyoy (2493 meters).

Gizyurdu

Mount Gizyurdu is the second highest peak of Talysh mountains with the height of 2433 meters.

Other mountains

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Mount Goyazan

The elevation of Mount Goyazan is located 20 kilometers far from

Qazakh district Qazax District (; az, Qazax rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north-west of the country and belongs to the Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region. The district borders the district of Aghstafa, and the Tavush Province ...

of Azerbaijan. Its elevation is 250 meters. The mountain has volcanic origin and it is not connected to any mountain ridges. At the bottom of the mountain, there are ancient dwellings.

Yanar Dag

Yanar Dag is located 27 kilometers far from

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

. On the surface of Yanar Dag, there are fires of natural gas that flames continuously, and their height reaches to 10–15 meters. The historical-cultural and natural reserve was established in the territory of Yanar Dag by the presidential decree dated May 2, 2007.

Gallery

File:Mountain Beshbarmag, Azerbaijan, 2007.jpg, Mount Beshbarmag File:Hinal dağ. 8.JPG,

Hinaldag Hinaldagh ( az, Hinaldağ) is a mountain in the Dashkasan District of Azerbaijan. It's located in the western part of the Tanriyokhush, the source section of the Levchay, Shamkir and Ganja rivers. It used to be the ''de facto'' 'Line of Contact' ...

File:Azerbaijan Gabala 5.jpg, Mountains of Gabala File:Lahıc, İsmayıllı, Azerbaijan in 2015.jpg, Mountains in Lahic, Ismayilli File:Khinaliqmountain.JPG, Mountains in Khinalig File:Azerbaijan Nature Shaki.jpg, Mountains in Shaki

References

External links

Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Republic
{{coord missing, Azerbaijan Geography of Azerbaijan