A work of titans
True backbone of the country that they travel from north to south over nearly 400 km, these mountains extend the Caucasus chain, which earned them the name "Little Caucasus", which poorly reflects the originality of this mountainous complex that could not pass for an appendage of the great northern chain just good to make the junction with the Iranian mountain ranges and their distant extensions Himalayan. As a result of the combined action of the earth's crust and powerful volcanic systems, these mountains have developed very characteristic lines despite the diversity of their landscapes. Situated on the geological fault line where the Arabian and Russian continental shelves continue to collide with a violence attested by the Gyumri earthquake of 7 December 1988, which killed 25,000 people, Armenia bears witness to this tectonic and eruptive work. Echoing some merciless battle of the titans, this chaos of rocks has always impressed its inhabitants. Although the telluric forces manifest themselves in sometimes devastating earthquakes, the volcanoes have been extinct for such a long time that there is no human evidence of their activity, except for Ararat, which last erupted in the 19th century. As for Arakadz, it has not erupted for 5,000 years. These volcanoes have covered with a thick mantle of lava a peaceful nature, whose edges have been as if planed, softened by the action of the molten rocks.
Mountains served on a platter
This long volcanic work, combined with natural erosion, explains the softly shaped summits typical of these mountains, which can be found even in the more alpine ranges of the north - Gougark, Pambak - or the south - Zanguézour. For this reason, the mountains sometimes appear lower than shown on the maps, as their foothills are saturated with volcanic material at high altitudes. Three-quarters of the country lies between 1,000 and 2,500 m, with only the valleys falling in elevation. So there is little room for plains: while the mountains of Armenia give rise to several of the tributaries of the Kuras (in the north) and the Araxis (in the south), neither of the two major rivers of the Caucasus makes its bed there. To the northeast, the Debet River flows through a small plain at an altitude of 400 m - the lowest elevation - before joining the Kuras in Georgia. The only plain worthy of the name is created by a stretch of the Arakkian, which flows into the Caspian after mixing its waters with those of the Kuras, 500 km to the east, in Azerbaijan. Marking the border with Turkey, then to the south, after running along the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, the one with Iran - the Arax is the Armenian river par excellence; over a course of nearly a thousand kilometres, Armenia has inherited only about 100 km, but its basin covers 76% of the territory.
Ararat and Arakadz
As much as the Arakis, it is Mount Ararat (Massis in Armenian), whose glaciers reach a height of 5,160 m, on the other side of the river in Turkey, which gives its identity and name to this plain, where the Armenian high plateau drops to 700 m. It is in this "Ararat plain", transformed into a "granary" by irrigation, that the heart of the country beats, with the capital Yerevan and the Holy City, Echmiadzin. This succession of orchards, fields and vineyards gives some idea of the "earthly paradise" that Genesis situated in Armenia. Flanked by the perfect cone of its younger brother, little Massis, the Ararat is like a patriarch, dominating with a majesty imbued with mystery the plain where the Araxis snakes. The Ararat casts a shadow over the other mountain facing it, to the north: an extinct volcano, the Arakadz rises more discreetly from its four snow-covered peaks, the highest of which reaches 4,095 m, the highest peak in the country, even if its gently sloping flanks do not make it appear so. The Arakadz is the great architect of this Armenian altiplano, with its vast horizons. After spitting out huge masses of lava that raised its base, the mountain took on the appearance of an immense dome around which central Armenia is articulated. To the south, it extends to the Arakish plain, a tributary of which, the Akhurian, runs along its western flank, delimiting the border with Turkey. Its steeper northern slope, sheltered by small glaciers, reigns over a radically different world: at almost 2,000 m above sea level, between the Turkish border and the Djavakhk Mountains (Mount Legli, 3,196 m), the Shirak Plain unfolds its steppe expanses from Gyumri to Georgia.
The Sevan, an inland sea
To the east, the Arakadz drowns in the trickle of water from the Hrazdan River, which marks the eastern limit of the plateau. Flowing between the last foothills of the Arakadz and the volcanic mountains of Kegham (Ajdahak, 3,598 m), the Hrazdan flows southwards into the Arakadz, after a course of 80 km and 1,300 m of gradient, the waters of Lake Sevan, located even further east. At an altitude of 1,900 m, this sun-flooded freshwater body, occupying a 1,500 km² basin between the Kegham Mountains to the west and the Sevan to the east, is the jewel of a country deprived of the sea. Erected as a national park, the Sevan basin is located in the heart of the mountainous arc of eastern Armenia. Beyond the Sevan Pass, through which the road from Yerevan to Tbilisi passes, the northern Gugark region is a forest world of alternating alpine-like folded ranges and sharper-edged peaks, where volcanic devices give way to crystalline formations. The same type of relief can be found in the south of the Sevan, beyond the Vardénis volcanic chain (3,500 m) which borders its southern bank and which is crossed by the Selim pass, to reach the Vayots Dzor and the Zanguézour. Made up of powerful chains strongly marked by volcanism, this region is carved with grandiose gorges such as those of the Arpa and Vorotan rivers. The Zanguézour chain, where the highest peaks after the Arakadz rise (Mount Kapoudjouk, 3,970 m), has steep slopes and rocky ridges. There are no plains, except at the extreme south, at Meghri, where the Arakadz, which here draws the border with Iran, has created a small valley.
