Mt. Ararat - 27/365

Mt. Ararat - 27/365
Originally uploaded by Chris Wilder-Smith.

Mount Ararat (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı, Armenian: Արարատ, Kurdish: Agirî, Greek: Ἀραράτ, Persian: آرارات‎, Russian: Арарат, Georgian: არარატის, Azeri: Ağrıdağ, Hebrew: אֲרָרָט‎, Tiberian Hebrew: ʾĂrārāṭ) is the tallest peak in modern Turkey. This snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone is located in the Iğdır Province, near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of the Iranian and 32 km south of the Armenian border. The name Ağrı in Turkish is said to be derived from Agir in Kurdish meaning fire [1], referring to Ararat being a volcano. (çiyayê agirî in Kurdish [2]). But this derivation is uncertain, since there is no historical record of when the volcano was last active and which tribes lived in the vicinity at that time.

Technically, Ararat is a stratovolcano, formed of lava flows and pyroclastic ejecta. A smaller (3,896 m) cone, Mount "Sis", also known as "Little Ararat", rises from the same base, southeast of the main peak (Armenians sometimes call the higher peak "Masis"). The lava plateau stretches out between the two pinnacles. The last activity on the mountain was a major earthquake in July 1840 centered around the Ahora Gorge, a northeast trending chasm that drops 1,825 metres (6,000 ft) from the top of the mountain.

The Book of Genesis identifies the "mountains of Ararat" as the resting place of Noah's Ark after the Great Flood described there. The asteroid 96205 Ararat is named in the mountain's honour.