Mount Aragats

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"Aragats" redirects here. For other uses, see Aragats (disambiguation).
Mount Aragats
Aragats mountain, Aragatsotn, Armenia.jpg
Highest point
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Prominence Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). [3]
Listing Country high point
Ultra
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [2]
Geography
Location in Armenia
Location Aragatsotn, Armenia
Parent range Armenian Highlands
Geology
Age of rock Holocene[2]
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption Unknown[2]
Climbing
First ascent 1843
Khachatur Abovian and Moritz Wagner[4]

Mount Aragats (Armenian: Արագած) is a complex volcano in Armenia. One of the highest points in the Armenian Highlands, Aragats is the highest in present-day Republic of Armenia.

It was active during multiple phases in the Pleistocene. Petroglyphs have been discovered around the volcano.

Etymology and names

According to Armenian tradition, Aragats originates from the words Արա Ara + գահ gah, which translates to "Ara's throne". Ara refers to the legendary hero Ara the Beautiful.[5][6]

Another name for the mountain is the Turkic Alagöz. It was used widely from the settlement of Turkic peoples in the region until the 20th century in European,[7] Russian,[8] and early Soviet[9] sources (Алагёз). A variant of the word, Alagyaz (Ալագյազ) was used by Armenians[10][11][12] and is still sometimes used in the colloquial. A folk song from Shirak composed by Komitas is titled Alagyaz.[13]

Geography and geology

Situated 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Yerevan, Aragats is a large volcano with numerous fissure vents and adventive cones. Numerous large lava flows descend from the volcano and are constrained in age between middle Pleistocene and 3000BCE. The summit crater is cut by a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long line of cones which generated possibly Holocene-age lahars and lava flows.[2] The volcanic system covers an area of 5000km2 and is one of the largest in the region. More recent activity in flank centres occurred in Tirinkatar (0.48-0.61 Ma), Kakavasar, (0.52-0.54 Ma) and Ashtarak (0.58 Ma), as well as Jrbazhan in the summit area (0.52 Ma). The magmas feeding Aragats are unusually hot for arc-derived magmas, resulting in long and voluminous lava flows.[14]

Mount Aragats, topographic representation

Glaciation

Observations shortly after World War II showed the presence of firn fields and snowfields on the sides of the crater cirque, as well as moraines and glaciers inside the crater. An analysis in 1896 indicated a surface area of 5.5-5.8 km2, but rapidly retreated afterwards. The glaciation has been retreating on account of insufficient snowfall and increasing temperatures. Glacial meltwater dominates the upper part of the rivers descending from Aragats but its importance decreases farther down the valleys.[15] Traces of prehistorical glaciation also exist, including thick moraines in the summit area at an altitude of 2600-3000m.[16]

Geological history

The volcano was constructed within four different phases. The first phase (possibly 2.5Ma) occurred in the main crater and subsidiary vents and was basaltic andesite in composition. It crops out in deep gorges. The second phase (0.97–0.89 Ma, by K-Ar) involved the main vent, subsidiary structures and was basaltic and andesitic in composition with ignimbrites and pyroclastics, with tuffs and lava flows emanating from satellite centres. It was the most voluminous and included the Shamiram and Egvard subsidiary centres. The third phase (0.74–0.68 Ma) while similar to the second was more restricted in regional extent to the Mantash River basin. The fourth stage (0.56–0.45 Ma) involved mafic lava flows from parasitic vents in the southern parts of the volcano.[17]

Rock art

Numerous engravings have been around the volcano, including rock paintings portraying animals and human-like figures in Kasagh River valley possibly of early Holocene age, and in Aghavnatun on the southern side of the volcano including petroglyps showing animals that were possibly created in the 4th to 1st millennia B.C.[18]

Nearby towns

The towns around the mountain include Ashtarak to its southeast, Aparan to its northeast, Artik to its northwest, and Talin to its southwest. On the other sides of the mountains are villages and towns.[citation needed]

Gallery

  • Aragats panorama.jpg
  • Peaks of Aragats.jpg

Paintings

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mount Aragats Mountain Information
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ High prominence mountains in Caucasus and Russia outside of Europe
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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