Shirak Plain, ( hy, Շիրակի դաշտ ''Shiraki dašt''), is a plain located in the Armenian Plateau, at the northwest of Armenia. It roughly occupies almost the entire area of

Shirak Province Shirak ( hy, Շիրակ, ) is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. It is located in the north-west of the country, bordering Turkey to the west and Georgia to the north. Its capital and largest city is Gyumri, which is the second largest city ...

,Shirak Province, general information
/ref> the southwestern parts of Lori Province, as well as the northern parts of

Aragatsotn Province Aragatsotn ( hy, Արագածոտն, ) is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. It is located in the western part of the country. The capital and largest city of the province is the town of Ashtarak. The Statistical Committee of Armenia reported i ...

. Shirak plan stretches from the left bank of

Akhurian River The Akhuryan ( hy, Ախուրյան ''Axuryan''; xcl, Ախուրեան ''Axurean''; russian: Арпачай or Ахурян), or Arpachay ( tr, Arpaçay) is a river in the South Caucasus. It originates in Armenia and flows from Lake Arpi, al ...

at the west, towards the Pambak Mountains at the east. The plain is dominated by the Shirak mountains from the north, while the volcanoes of Shara and Aragats form the southern and southeastern borders of the plain. Akhurian river separates the Shirak plain from the Kars volcanic plateau at the west, which is located at the right bank of the river in modern-day

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

. The elevation of the plain ranges between 1400 and 1900 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

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 ...

, Artik,

Maralik Maralik ( hy, Մարալիկ), is a town and the centre of the urban community of Maralik, in Shirak Province at the northwest of Armenia. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 5,398, down from 5,782 reported in the 2001 census. As ...

and

Talin Talin may refer to: Places * Talin, Armenia, a city * Tálín, a municipality and village in the Czech Republic *Tallinn, capital of Estonia * Talin, Iran, a village in West Azerbaijan Province *Talin, Syria, a village in Tartus Governorate Other ...

are the main urban settlements within the Shirak Plain.

Gallery

File:Շիրակի դաշտ, Մարմաշեն.jpg, Shirak plain at Marmashen File:Տափաստանային լանդշաֆտ.jpg, Steppes at the Shirak plateau around Anipemza File:«Փետրախոտային տափաստան».jpg, Steppes at the Shirak plateau northwest of

Amasia Amasia may refer to the following places: * Amasya, a city in Northern Turkey ** Amasya Province, which contains the city ** Amasea (titular see), the former Metropolitan Archbishopric with see there, now a Latin Catholic titular see * Amasia, Sh ...

File:Փետրախոտային տափաստան.jpg, Steppes at the Shirak plateau northwest of

File:Իսահակյան գյուղ2.jpg, Shirak Plain near Isahakyan File:Buckwheat fields in Shirak Province, Armenia 7-15-16, 16 47 38.jpg, Buckwheat fields in Shirak File:Lake Azatan.jpg, Lake Azatan near the Azatan village, Shirak Plain

References

Landforms of Armenia {{Shirak-geo-stub