Lesser Caucasus

Lesser Caucasus
Lesser Caucasus
	Aragats mount in Armenia
Highest point
Peak	Aragats
Elevation	4,090 m (13,420 ft)
Dimensions
Length	600 km (370 mi) NW-SE
Geography
	Satellite image; the snowy mountains to the south are the Lesser Caucasus.
Countries	Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran;
Range coordinates	41°N 44°E / 41°N 44°E
Parent range	Caucasian / Armenian Highlands
Borders on	Greater Caucasus

The Lesser Caucasus or Lesser Caucasus Mountains, also called Caucasus Minor, is the second of the two main ranges of the Caucasus Mountains, of length about 600 km (370 mi). The western portion of the Lesser Caucasus overlaps and converges with east Turkey and northwest Iran. It runs parallel to the Greater Caucasus, at a distance averaging about 100 km (62 mi) south from the Likhi Range (Georgia), and limits east Turkey from the north and north-east. It is connected with the Pontic range^[2] and separated from it by the Kolkhida Lowland (Georgia) in the west and Kura-Aras Lowland (Azerbaijan) (by the Kura River) in the east.

Description

The highest peak is Aragats in Armenia, 4,090 m (13,420 ft).^[1]

The borders between Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran run through the range, although its crest does not usually define the border. The range was historically called Anticaucasus or Anti-Caucasus (Greek: Αντι-Καύκασος, Russian: Антикавка́з, Анти-Кавка́з). This usage is commonly found in older sources.^[3]^[4] Current usage tends towards using the name Lesser Caucasus, but Anti-caucasus can still be found in modern texts.^[5]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "Mount Aragats | mountain, Armenia". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
^ Jon Mosar a , Jérémiah Mauvilly a , Kakhaber Koiava b , Irakli Gamkrelidze b , Nikolay Enna c , Vladimir Lavrishev c , Vera Kalberguenova a. "Tectonics in the Greater Caucasus (Georgia – Russia): From an intracontinental rifted basin to a doubly verging fold-and-thrust belt".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Bealby, John Thomas; Kropotkin, Peter Alexeivitch (1911). "Caucasus" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 05 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 550–555.
^ Reclus, Onésime (1892). A Bird's-eye View of the World. Ticknor. p. 264. anti caucasus.
^ Sharma, h s (1981). Perspective in Geomorphology Volume I.
^ Maisuradze, G.M. (1989-08-15). "Anthropogene of the anticaucasus". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology - PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCLIMATOL. 72: 53–62. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(89)90131-4.