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.

Description

The highest peak is Aragats in Armenia, {{convert|4090|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

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.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Caucasus |volume= 05 |last1= Bealby |first1= John Thomas |last2= Kropotkin |first2= Peter Alexeivitch | pages = 550–555 }}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/abirdseyeviewwo00clargoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/abirdseyeviewwo00clargoog/page/n288 264]|quote=anti caucasus.|title=A Bird's-eye View of the World|last=Reclus|first=Onésime|date=1892|publisher=Ticknor|language=en}} Current usage tends towards using the name Lesser Caucasus, but Anti-caucasus can still be found in modern texts.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.119845|title=Perspective in Geomorphology Volume I|last=Sharma|first=h s|date=1981}}{{Cite journal|last=Maisuradze|first=G.M.|date=1989-08-15|title=Anthropogene of the anticaucasus|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248289074|journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology - PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCLIMATOL|volume=72|pages=53–62|doi=10.1016/0031-0182(89)90131-4}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Georgia (country) topics}}

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Category:Mountain ranges of Azerbaijan

Category:Mountain ranges of Georgia (country)

Category:Mountain ranges of Armenia

Category:Mountain ranges of Turkey

Category:Mountain ranges of Iran

Category:Physiographic sections

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