Elburz Mountains

Volcanic mountain range in northwest Iran, close to the southern shore of the Caspian Sea; the highest point is Mount Damavand at 5,670 m/18,602 ft.

The Elburz Mountains consist of a series of narrow, extremely steep folds, with a number of peaks reaching over 3,000 m/9,842 ft, within a distance of 50 km/31 mi from the Caspian shore, which is 27 m/88 ft below sea level. The highest peak of the Elburz Mountains is Mount Damavand, a volcanic cone, north of Tehran. At the broadest point the Elburz Mountains are 100 km/62 mi wide. On the northern slopes annual rainfall exceeds 2,500 mm/98 in and forests grow up to an altitude of 2,100-2,400 m/6,890-7,874 ft. The Talish Hills in the west link the Elburz to the massifs of the Caucasus and northwest Zagros. To the east the Elburz Mountains are succeeded by a plateau dividing them from the Kopet Dag and Ala Shan. The Safid Rud, rising near Sanandaj in Kurdistan, breaks through the Elburz Mountains and enters the Caspian east of Rasht. The valley of the Haraz River, which rises some 40 km/25 mi north of Tehran, provides a pass to the eastern end of the Caspian lowlands.