Lesser Caucasus

{{Short description|Range within the Caucasus Mountains}}

{{Infobox mountain

| photo = Arakatz001.jpg

| photo_caption = Aragats mount

| country = {{hlist

|Azerbaijan

|Georgia

| Armenia

| Iran}}

| parent = Caucasian / Armenian Highlands

| borders_on = Greater Caucasus

| length_km = 600

| length_orientation = NW-SE

| width_km =

| width_orientation =

| highest = Aragats{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Mount Aragats {{!}} mountain, Armenia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=2016-05-07 |url=http://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Aragats |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308061101/http://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Aragats |archive-date=2016-03-08 |url-status=dead }}

| elevation_m = 4090

| coordinates =

| range_coordinates = {{coord|41|N|44|E|type:mountain|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| geology =

| orogeny =

| map_image = Kaukasus.jpg

| map_caption = Satellite image; the snowy mountains to the south are the Lesser Caucasus.

| name =

}}

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 {{convert|600|km|mi|abbr=on}}. 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 {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} south from the Likhi Range (Georgia), and limits east Turkey from the north and north-east. It is connected with the Pontic range{{Cite web |last1=Mosar |first1=Jon |last2=Mauvilly |first2=Jérémiah |last3=Koiava |first3=Kakhaber |last4=Gamkrelidze |first4=Irakli |last5=Enna |first5=Nikolay |last6=Lavrishev |first6=Vladimir |last7=Kalberguenova |first7=Vera |title=Tectonics in the Greater Caucasus (Georgia – Russia): From an intracontinental rifted basin to a doubly verging fold-and-thrust belt |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264817222001088}} and separated from it by the Kolkhida Lowland (Georgia) in the west and Kura-Aras Lowland (Azerbaijan) (by the Kura River) in the east.