1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Topographic isolation
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The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
4.
Mount Elbrus
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Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia and in Europe, and the tenth most prominent peak in the world. A dormant volcano, Elbrus forms part of the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. With its slightly taller west summit, the stands at 5,642 metres. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus, the name Elbrus /ˈɛlbrəs/ is a metathesis of Alborz, which is also the name of a long mountain range in northern Iran. It is derived from Avestan Harā Bərəzaitī, which is a mountain in Iranian mythology. Harā Bərəzaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, which was reformed into Middle Persian as Harborz, Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant, the reconstructed ancestor of Modern Persian barz, berāzande, and boland, and Modern Kurdish barz. Harā may be interpreted as watch or guard, from Indo-European *ser, Elbrus stands 20 km north of the main range of the Greater Caucasus and 65 km south-southwest of the Russian town of Kislovodsk. Its permanent icecap feeds 22 glaciers, which in turn give rise to the Baksan, Kuban, Elbrus sits on a moving tectonic area, and has been linked to a fault. A supply of magma lies deep beneath the dormant volcano, Mount Elbrus was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. The volcano is considered inactive. Elbrus was active in the Holocene, and according to the Global Volcanism Program, evidence of recent volcanism includes several lava flows on the mountain, which look fresh, and roughly 260 square kilometres of volcanic debris. The longest flow extends 24 kilometres down the northeast summit, indicative of a large eruption, there are other signs of activity on the volcano, including solfataric activity and hot springs. The western summit has a volcanic crater about 250 metres in diameter. Myth held that here Zeus had chained Prometheus, the Titan who had stolen fire from the gods, crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais. During the early years of the Soviet Union, mountaineering became a sport of the populace. On 17 March 1936, a group of 33 inexperienced Komsomol members attempted the mountain, during the Battle of the Caucasus in World War II, the Wehrmacht occupied the area surrounding the mountain from August 1942 to January 1943 with 10,000 Gebirgsjäger from the 1st Mountain Division. A possibly apocryphal story tells of a Soviet pilot being given a medal for bombing the main mountaineering hut, Priyut 11 and he was then later nominated for a medal for not hitting the hut, but instead the German fuel supply, leaving the hut standing for future generations. From 1959 through 1976, a cable car system was built in stages that can take visitors as high as 3,800 metres
5.
Volcanic Seven Summits
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The Volcanic Seven Summits are the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents, just as the Seven Summits are the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Summiting all seven is regarded as a challenge, first postulated as such in 1999. Due to different interpretations of continental borders several definitions for the highest summits per continent, the number of seven continents used here is based on the continent model used in Western Europe and the United States. The continents as defined here are on a geological and geographical basis, for the purposes of this list, the summits must be an actual eruptive volcanic center, not merely made of volcanic rocks which were uplifted by other geological processes. No serious dispute exists as to the highest volcanoes in Africa, North America, and Antarctica-—respectively, Kilimanjaro, Pico de Orizaba, and Mount Sidley. Although there are a few minor and inactive volcanoes on the Australian mainland, even if this continent is defined instead as Oceania, Giluwe remains the highest volcano since it exceeds the elevation of Mauna Kea in Hawaii and any volcano in New Zealand. The generally accepted geographical border between Europe and Asia runs along the crest of the Ural Mountains in central Russia and of the Caucasus along the border of Russia. Since the massive twin-peaked stratovolcano of Mount Elbrus rises just north of the crest, it is the highest summit in Europe, some geologists, though, consider the Kuma-Manych depression as the geological border between Asia and Europe. Such definition would render Elbrus entirely in Asia, making it the highest volcano of that continent, topographic maps of the Chile and Argentina border region which contains the highest peaks suffer from poor accuracy, with elevation errors exceeding 100 metres in many cases. However, the current consensus based on the most recent measurements places Ojos del Salado as the 2nd highest peak and highest volcano in South America, the 5,610 m Mount Damavand is a very large isolated stratovolcano with over 4,600 m of topographic prominence. There are more than 70 volcanic vents known as the Kunlun Volcanic Group in Tibet at higher elevations than Damavands summit, peaks in this volcanic group are not considered volcanic mountains but instead a type of pyroclastic cone. Information about these cones is extremely scarce and the elevations and prominences is of unknown accuracy. It is disputed whether any of these cones have a greater than 300 m. The volcanoes in the list below all have prominences far exceeding that threshold, * NOTE, Two of the Volcanic Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro and Elbrus, are also members of the Seven Summits. Ojos del Salado is also a member of the Seven Second Summits, defining the second highest volcanoes on each continent is a bit more complicated, because the continental definitions become critical. In Europe, Kazbek is the second highest volcano and it lies on the border of Russia and Georgia, whose European status is sometimes disputed, although Kazbek lies entirely on the European side of the Caucasus watershed. The river Terek rises to the south and west of Kazbek, all variant definitions are listed in the table below, so there are 8 volcanoes included,1 Mount Kenya is also a member of the Seven Second Summits. 2 Territory claimed by New Zealand, however, most nations do not recognize Antarctic territorial claims
6.
List of countries by highest point
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The following sortable table lists land surface elevation extremes by country. Topographic elevation is the distance above the reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earths sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface. Of all countries, Lesotho has the worlds highest low point at 1,400 m, other countries with high low points include Rwanda and Andorra. The Maldives have the worlds lowest high point at 2.4 m, other countries with very low high points include Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. These island countries also have the smallest range between their lowest and highest points, and are sensitive to rise in sea level. The highest and lowest points in China constitute the greatest elevation range within any country at 9,002 m. The elevation ranges are also great in Nepal, Pakistan, monacos elevation range is among the greatest relative to surface area. Within its 2.02 km² territory, there is a difference of 140 m between its highest and lowest points, equivalent to a gradient of 69 m for every km². Central Intelligence Agency The World Factbook U. S. Department of State Background Notes
7.
Ultra prominent peak
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An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Amol County
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Amol County is a county in Mazandaran Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Amol, at the 2006 census, the countys population was 343,747, in 93,194 families. The county is subdivided into three districts, the Central District, Larijan District, and Dabudasht District, the county has four cities, Amol, Rineh, Gazanak, and Dabudasht. Amols neighbour counties are Babol in the east, Mahmudabad in the north, Babolsar in the north-east, Noor in the west in Mazandaran province, the county elevated landscape and valleys have dense forests. Its hills overlook the plains and stretch out to the slopes of Damavand Mountains. The majestic valleys, rivers, springs, waterfalls, colorful vegetation, diversity of wildlife, thermal springs, summer quarters and rural settlements appeal to visitors. Mount Damavand,5610 m, the highest point in the Middle East These mountains form the two ranges of the central Alborz Mountains, and are the highest sections of this range. To the north, after the Kahu Pass, in the village of Garmabdar, in the south western sector are the peaks of Takht-e-khers and Se sang, extending towards the west, where the gigantic Damavand Peak is visible. In the south eastern direction it joins the Khansak and Shad Kooh Mountains, the Haraz Rivers source is in the skirts of the Alborz Mountains in the region of Larijan. After flowing along the Haraz Road and Valley for about 100 km. it meanders in the midst of the city of Amol, the fringes of this river are utilized as recreational areas as well as for fishing. The course that this river flows is beautiful and breath taking, Shahandasht, The Shahandasht Waterfall is the highest waterfall of Mazandaran Province. It is located in Shahandasht Village,65 kilometers away from Amol and it is 51 meters high flowing from the heart of Alborz Mountain. The waterfall is consisted of 3 waterfalls which make it 180 meters high, one can reach the waterfall by passing through the bridge of Vana Village and reaching the village of Shahandasht and walk towards the waterfall for 15 minutes on foot. Yakhi, Yakhi Waterfall with a height of 12 meters, is located in the vicinity of Doudkouh Mountain near the part of Damavand Peak in Mazandaran province. This waterfall is spectacular in that it is completely frozen throughout the year, the said waterfall is one of its own in the world. The other proposed Waterfall in county named, Ab Murad, Plas, Tara, Sang Darka, Qaleh Dokhtar, Peromed, Ab Garm-e Larijan Thermal Springs, This thermal spring is near the Rineh village. Its water is used in the treatment of joint disorders, skin diseases, Damavand has some thermal springs with therapeutic qualities. These mineral hot springs are located on the volcanos flanks and at the base
10.
Mazandaran
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Mazandaran Province pronunciation, is an Iranian province located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, in central-northern Iran. Mazandaran Province is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran and has natural resources, notably large reservoirs of oil. The provinces four largest counties are Sari, Amol, Nur, Mazandaran is a major producer of farmed fish, and aquaculture provides an important economic addition to traditional dominance of agriculture. Another important contributor to the economy is the industry, as people from all of Iran enjoy visiting the area. Mazandaran is also a centre for biotechnology. The province covers an area of 23,842 km², Sari is the capital city of the province. Mazandaran is divided into 15 counties, all the shahrestans are named after their administrative center, except Savadkooh. Human habitation in the dates back at least 75,000 years. Recent excavations in Gohar Tape in Behshahr provide proof that the area has been urbanized for more than 5,000 years, and it has played an important role in cultural and urban development of the region. Mazandaran is one of the oldest areas Sedentism, Mazandaran is a Caspian province in the north of Iran. Located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it is bordered clockwise by Russia, Golestan, Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Sari is the largest city and the capital of Mazandaran province. Mazandaran Province was made part of the First Region upon the division of the provinces into five regions solely for coordination, before the arrival of the Iranian-speakers to Iran, native people of this area were subsistence hunters and cattle herders. Archaeological studies in caves belt and Hutu man in Behshahr in the Mazandaran date to approximately 9500 BC, the Amard were a tribe living along the mountainous region bordering the Caspian Sea, including current day Amol. The territory known as Mazandaran has changed hands among various dynasties from early in its history, there are several fortresses remaining from Parthia and Sassanid times, and many older cemeteries scattered throughout the province. During this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces, in 662 CE, ten years after the death of Yazdegerd III the last Sassanian Emperor, a large Muslim army under the command of Hassan ibn Ali invaded Tabarestan. With the advent of the Sassanid dynasty, the King of Mazandaran was Gushnasp, in 529–536, Mazandaran was ruled by the Sassanid prince Kawus, son of Kawadh. Anushirawan, the Sassanid king, defeated Zarmihr, who claimed his ancestry from the legendary blacksmith Kaveh and this dynasty ruled the area till 645 AD, when Gil Gilanshah joined Mazandaran to Gilan. There are several fortresses remaining from Parthian and Sassanid times, during this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces
11.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
12.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
13.
Alborz
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This mountain range is divided into Western, Central, and Eastern Alborz Mountains. The Western Alborz Range runs south-southeastward almost along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Mount Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran, is located in the Central Alborz Mountains. The name Alborz is derived from that of Harā Barazaitī, a mountain in the Avesta. Harā Barazaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, *Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant- high, the ancestor of modern Persian boland and Barz/Berazandeh, cognate with Sanskrit Brihat. Harā may be interpreted as watch or guard, from an Indo-European root *ser- protect, in Middle Persian, Harā Barazaitī became Harborz, Modern Persian Alborz, which is a cognate with Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus. Zoroastrians may identify the range with the place of the Peshyotan. In his epic Shahnameh, the poet Ferdowsi speaks of the mountains as though they lay in India, all these names reflect the same Iranian language compound, and share an identification as the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī of the Avesta. The Alborz mountain range forms a barrier between the south Caspian and the Iranian plateau and it is only 60–130 km wide and consists of sedimentary series dating from Upper Devonian to Oligocene, prevalently Jurassic limestone over a granite core. Continental conditions regarding sedimentation are reflected by thick Devonian sandstones and by Jurassic shales containing coal seams, marine conditions are reflected by Carboniferous and Permian strata that are composed mainly of limestones. In the Eastern Alborz Range, the far eastern section is formed by Mesozoic rocks, the central part of the Central Alborz Range is formed mainly of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks, while the northwestern section of the range is made mainly of the Jurassic rocks. Very thick beds of the Tertiary green volcanic tuffs and lavas are found mainly in the southwestern, the collisions finally caused the folding of the Upper Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleogene rocks, and the Cenozoic volcanism to form the Alborz Mountains mainly in the Miocene. In the southern slopes or the Elburz Range forest steppe ecoregion, juniper is the most common tree in the inaccessible areas and high elevations, while shrubs are pistachio, maple, and almond. But in the slopes, the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion is lush. The natural vegetation of this region grows in distinct zones, the Hyrcanian forests on the lowest levels, beech forests in the middle zone, and oak forests in higher regions. The wild cypress is the dominant form of vegetation in some valleys, the extinct Caspian tiger also lived in the Alborz Mountains. Due to the snowy winters of the Alborz Mountains, there are several ski resorts in different places of the range. Some consider that a few of these are among the best in the world, some of most important ones are Dizin, Shemshak, Tochal, and Darband. Mount Damavand is featured twice as a multiplayer map in the game Battlefield 3
14.
Stratovolcano
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A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
15.
Types of volcanic eruptions
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Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
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First ascent
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In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with risks, challenges. The person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist, the details of the first ascents of even many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown, sometimes the only evidence of prior summiting is a cairn, artifacts, or inscriptions at the top. Today, first ascents are generally recorded and usually mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a first ascent is a one, especially in places such as Africa. There may be little or no evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents, particularly for difficult routes, involved a mix of free, as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Some other first ascents could be recorded for particular mountains or routes, one is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name easily suggests, the first ascent made during winter season. This is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route, in the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. Also in the Himalayan area, although Nepal and Chinas winter season permits start on December 1, another is the First Solo Ascent, which is the first ascent made by a single climber. This is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or even when climbing without any protection at all, another type of ascent, also known as FFA is the first female ascent. The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has changed to such an extent – often because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can also be used facetiously to refer to a climb that is so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent partys ordeal. List of first ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimers First Ascent, Issue 17
17.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
18.
Persian language
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Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
19.
Potentially active volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
20.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
21.
Asia
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Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
22.
Tibet
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Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
23.
Persian mythology
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Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, all involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Myths play a part in Iranian culture and our understanding of them is increased when we consider them within the context of Iranian history. The geography of this region, with its mountain ranges. This pottery, light grey to black in colour, appeared around 1400 BC and it is called Early Grey Ware or Iron I, the latter name indicating the beginning of the Iron Age in this area. The central collection of Persian mythology is the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, the characters of Persian mythology almost always fall into one of two camps. They are either good, or they are evil, the most famous legendary character in the Persian epics and mythology is Rostam. On the other side of the fence is Zahhak, a symbol of despotism who was, finally, Zahhak was guarded by two vipers which grew out from both of his shoulders. No matter how many times they were beheaded, new heads grew on them to guard him. The snake, like in other mythologies, was a symbol of evil, but many other animals and birds appear in Iranian mythology, and, especially. Most famous of these is Simorgh, a beautiful and powerful bird, and Homa. Published by Echo of Iran, Tehran 1965, Iranian Mythology by Albert J. Carnoy Indo-Iranian Mythology Iran Almanac 2006
24.
Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in a basin located between Europe and Asia. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. In its northern part, the Caspian Depression lies 28 to 130 m below sea level, the sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1023 m below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal. The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness, the sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It has a salinity of approximately 1. 2%, about a third of the salinity of most seawater, the word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived to the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia. Strabo wrote that to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea, but the tribe has now disappeared. Moreover, the Caspian Gates, which is the name of a region in Irans Tehran province, the Iranian city of Qazvin shares the root of its name with that of the sea. In fact, the traditional Arabic name for the sea itself is Bahr al-Qazwin, in classical antiquity among Greeks and Persians it was called the Hyrcanian Ocean. In Persian antiquity, as well as in modern Iran, it is known as the دریای خزر, Daryā-e Khazar, ancient Arabic sources refer to it as Baḥr Gīlān meaning the Gilan Sea. Turkic languages refer to the lake as Khazar Sea, in Turkmen, the name is Hazar deňizi, in Azeri, it is Xəzər dənizi, and in modern Turkish, it is Hazar denizi. An exception is Kazakh, where it is called Каспий теңізі, old Russian sources call it the Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea after the name of Khwarezmia. In modern Russian, it is called Каспи́йское мо́ре, Kaspiyskoye more, the Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. Due to the current inflow of water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore. Currently, the salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earths oceans. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world, the coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct regions, the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian
25.
Mazandaran Province
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Mazandaran Province pronunciation, is an Iranian province located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, in central-northern Iran. Mazandaran Province is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran and has natural resources, notably large reservoirs of oil. The provinces four largest counties are Sari, Amol, Nur, Mazandaran is a major producer of farmed fish, and aquaculture provides an important economic addition to traditional dominance of agriculture. Another important contributor to the economy is the industry, as people from all of Iran enjoy visiting the area. Mazandaran is also a centre for biotechnology. The province covers an area of 23,842 km², Sari is the capital city of the province. Mazandaran is divided into 15 counties, all the shahrestans are named after their administrative center, except Savadkooh. Human habitation in the dates back at least 75,000 years. Recent excavations in Gohar Tape in Behshahr provide proof that the area has been urbanized for more than 5,000 years, and it has played an important role in cultural and urban development of the region. Mazandaran is one of the oldest areas Sedentism, Mazandaran is a Caspian province in the north of Iran. Located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it is bordered clockwise by Russia, Golestan, Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Sari is the largest city and the capital of Mazandaran province. Mazandaran Province was made part of the First Region upon the division of the provinces into five regions solely for coordination, before the arrival of the Iranian-speakers to Iran, native people of this area were subsistence hunters and cattle herders. Archaeological studies in caves belt and Hutu man in Behshahr in the Mazandaran date to approximately 9500 BC, the Amard were a tribe living along the mountainous region bordering the Caspian Sea, including current day Amol. The territory known as Mazandaran has changed hands among various dynasties from early in its history, there are several fortresses remaining from Parthia and Sassanid times, and many older cemeteries scattered throughout the province. During this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces, in 662 CE, ten years after the death of Yazdegerd III the last Sassanian Emperor, a large Muslim army under the command of Hassan ibn Ali invaded Tabarestan. With the advent of the Sassanid dynasty, the King of Mazandaran was Gushnasp, in 529–536, Mazandaran was ruled by the Sassanid prince Kawus, son of Kawadh. Anushirawan, the Sassanid king, defeated Zarmihr, who claimed his ancestry from the legendary blacksmith Kaveh and this dynasty ruled the area till 645 AD, when Gil Gilanshah joined Mazandaran to Gilan. There are several fortresses remaining from Parthian and Sassanid times, during this era, Mazandaran was part of Hyrcania Province which was one of the important provinces
26.
Zoroastrian
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
27.
Fereydun
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Fereydun, also pronounced and spelled Freydun, Faridon and Afridun, is the name of an Iranian mythical king and hero from the kingdom of Varena. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, all of the forms of the name shown above derive, by regular sound laws, from Proto-Iranian Θraitauna- and Proto-Indo-Iranian Traitaunas. Traitaunas is a derivative of Tritas, the name of a deity or hero reflected in the Vedic Trita, both names are identical to the adjective meaning the third, a term used of a minor deity associated with two other deities to form a triad. In the Indian Vedas, Trita is associated with gods of thunder, Trita is also called Āptya, a name that is probably cognate with Āθβiya, the name of Thraetaonas father in the Avestā, Zoroastrian texts collated in the third century. Traitaunas may therefore be interpreted as the son of Tritas. The name was borrowed from Parthian into Classical Armenian as Hrudēn, in the Avestā, Thraetaona is the son of Aθβiya, and so is called Āθβiyāni, meaning from the family of Aθβiya. Originally, he may have recorded as the killer of the dragon Zahhak. According to Ferdowsis Shahnameh, Fereydun was the son of Ābtin, Fereydun, together with Kāve, revolted against the tyrannical king, Zahāk, defeated and arrested him in the Alborz Mountains. Afterwards, Fereydun became the king, married Arnavāz and, according to the myth, at the end of his life, he allocated his kingdom to his three sons Salm, Tur, and Iraj. Iraj was Fereyduns youngest and favored son, and inherited the best part of the kingdom, Salm inherited Anatolia, and Tur inherited Central Asia, respectively. This aroused Irajs brothers envy, and encouraged them to murder him, after the murder of Iraj, Fereydun enthroned Irajs grandson, Manučehr. Manučehrs attempt to avenge his grandfathers murder initiated the Iranian-Turanian wars
28.
Ferdowsi
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Abu ʾl-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi, or Ferdowsi was a Persian poet and the author of Shahnameh, which is the worlds longest epic poem created by a single poet, and the national epic of Greater Iran. Ferdowsi is celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature and he was called The Lord of the Word and The Savior of Persian Language. Except for his kunya and his laqab, nothing is known with any certainty about his full name, from an early period on, he has been referred to by different additional names and titles, the most common one being حکیم / Ḥakīm. Based on this, his name is given in Persian sources as حکیم ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی / Ḥakīm Abul-Qāsim Firdowsī Țusī. Due to the transliteration from Persian into English, different spellings of his name are used in English works, including Firdawsi, Firdusi, Firdosi, Firdausi. The Encyclopaedia of Islam uses the spelling Firdawsī, based on the transliteration method of the German Oriental Society. The Encyclopædia Iranica, which uses a version of the same method. In both cases, the -ow and -aw are to be pronounced as a diphthong, reflecting the original Arabic, the modern Tajik transliteration of his name in Cyrillic script is Ҳаким Абулқосим Фирдавсӣ Тӯсӣ. Little is known about Ferdowsis early life, the poet had a wife, who was probably literate and came from the same dehqan class. He had a son, who died aged 37, and was mourned by the poet in an elegy which he inserted into the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi belonged to the class of dehqans. The dehqans were intensely patriotic and saw it as their task to preserve the traditions of Iran. By the late 9th century, the power of the caliphate had weakened, Ferdowsi grew up in Tus, a city under the control of one of these dynasties, the Samanids, who claimed descent from the Sassanid general Bahram Chobin. Abu Mansur Muhammad, a dehqan and governor of Tus, had ordered his minister Abu Mansur Mamari to invite several local scholars to compile a prose Shahnameh, although it no longer survives, Ferdowsi used it as one of the sources of his epic. Samanid rulers were patrons of such important Persian poets as Rudaki, Ferdowsi followed in the footsteps of these writers. Details about Ferdowsis education are lacking, judging by the Shahnameh, there is no evidence he knew either Arabic or Pahlavi. Although New Persian was permeated by Arabic vocabulary by Ferdowsis time and this may have been a deliberate strategy by the poet. It is possible that Ferdowsi wrote some poems which have not survived. He began work on the Shahnameh around 977, intending it as a continuation of the work of his fellow poet Daqiqi, like Daqiqi, Ferdowsi employed the prose Shahnameh of ʿAbd-al-Razzāq as a source
29.
Shahnameh
–
The Shahnameh, also transliterated as Shahnama, is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couplets, the Shahnameh is the worlds longest epic poem written by a single poet. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Modern Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and the region influenced by the Persian culture celebrate this national epic. The work is of importance in Persian culture, regarded as a literary masterpiece. Ferdowsi started writing the Shahnameh in 977 A. D and completed it on 8 March 1010, the Shahnameh is a monument of poetry and historiography, being mainly the poetical recast of what Ferdowsi, his contemporaries, and his predecessors regarded as the account of Irans ancient history. Many such accounts already existed in prose, an example being the Abu-Mansuri Shahnameh, a small portion of Ferdowsis work, in passages scattered throughout the Shahnameh, is entirely of his own conception. The Shahnameh is a poem of over 50,000 couplets. It is based mainly on a work of the same name compiled in Ferdowsis earlier life in his native Tus. The Xwadāynāmag contained historical information on the later Sassanid period, Ferdowsi added material continuing the story to the overthrow of the Sassanids by the Arabs in the middle of the 7th century. These verses, which deal with the rise of the prophet Zoroaster, were incorporated by Ferdowsi, with acknowledgment. The style of the Shahnameh shows characteristics of written and oral literature. Some claim that Ferdowsi also used Zoroastrian nasks, such as the now-lost Chihrdad, besides, the text is written in the late Middle Persian, which was the immediate ancestor of Modern Persian. According to one account of the sources, a Persian named Dehqan in the court of King Anushehrawan Dadgar had composed a book in prose form. After the fall of the Iranian Empire, Khoday Nameh came into the possession of King Yaqub Lais and then the Samani king Nuh ordered the poet Daqiqi to complete it, Ferdowsi obtained the book through a friend. The work is not precisely chronological, but there is a movement through time. Some of the characters live for hundreds of years but most have normal life spans, there are many shāhs who come and go, as well as heroes and villains, who also come and go. The only lasting images are those of Greater Persia itself, and of a succession of sunrises and sunsets, the work is divided into three successive parts, the mythical, heroic, and historical ages
30.
Arash (mythology)
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Arash the Archer is a heroic archer-figure of Iranian mythology. Both reach an agreement that whatever land falls within the range of a bow-shot shall be returned to the Manuchehr and the Iranians, and the rest should then fall to Afrasiab and the Aniranians. An angel instructs Manuchehr to construct a special bow and arrow, Arash then fires the specially-prepared arrow at dawn, which then traveled a great distance before finally landing and so marking the future border between the Iranians and the Aniranians. In Talebi and Balami, Arash is destroyed by the shot, in al-Tabari, he is exalted by the people, is appointed commander of the archers and lives out his life in great honor. The distance the arrow travels varies, in one it is thousand leagues, in several, the arrow traveled from dawn to noon, in others from dawn until sunset. A few sources specify a date for the event. The location from which Arash fired his arrow varies as well, in the Avesta, it is Airyo. khshaotha, a not-further identified location in the Middle Clime. Islamic-era sources typically place the location of the shot somewhere just south of the Caspian Sea, variously in Tabaristan, a mountain-top in Ruyan, Amol fortress, Mount Damavand or Sari. The place the arrow landed is variously identified as Mount Khvanvant in the Avesta, a river in Balkh, east of Balkh, Bactria/Tokharistan, according to al-Biruni, it hit a Walnut Tree between Fargana and Tabaristan in the furthest reaches of Khorasan. The name Arash remains a name among Iranians. As is typical for names from oral tradition, there are variations of Arash. In the Avesta the name appears as Erekhsha of the swift arrow and this Avestan language form continues in Zoroastrian Middle Persian as Erash, from which the anglicized Eruch derives. Names with a stock epithet representing the Avestan swift arrow include al-Tabaris Aarashshebatir, a surname form includes Arash/Aarash kaman-gir Arash, bow-expert. Then appears Bahram Bayzai’s Āraš in 1977
31.
Turan
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Tūrān literally means the land of the Tur, and is a region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a prehistoric human settlement. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age, in ancient Iranian mythology, Tūr or Turaj is the son of the emperor Fereydun. According to the account in the Shahnameh the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr, in that sense, the Turanians could be members of two Iranian peoples both descending from Fereydun, but with different geographical domains and often at war with each other. Turan, therefore, comprised five areas, the Kopet Dag region, the Atrek valley, a later association of the original Turanians with Turkic peoples is based primarily on the subsequent Turkification of Central Asia, including the above areas. According to C. E. Bosworth, however, there was no relationship between the ancient Turkic cultures and the Turanians of the Shahnameh. The oldest existing mention of Turan is in the Farvardin yashts, according to Prof. Gherardo Gnoli, the Avesta contains the names of various tribes who lived in proximity to each other, the Airyas, Tuiryas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis. In the hymns of the Avesta, the adjective Tūrya is attached to various enemies of Zoroastrism like Fraŋrasyan, the word occurs only once in the Gathas, but 20 times in the later parts of the Avesta. The Tuiryas as they were called in Avesta play an important role in the Avesta than the Sairimas, Sainus. Zoroaster himself hailed from the Airya people but he preached his message to other neighboring tribes. Thus in the Avesta, some of the Tuiryas believed in the message of Zoroaster while others rejected the religion, similar to the ancient homeland of Zoroaster, the precise geography and location of Turan is unknown. In post-Avestan traditions they were thought to inhabit the north of the Oxus. Their presence accompanied by incessant wars with the Iranians, helped to define the latter as a nation, proud of their land. The common names of Turanians in Avesta and Shahnameh include Frarasyan, Aghraethra, Biderafsh, the continuation of nomadic invasions on the north-eastern borders in historical times kept the memory of the Turanians alive. After the 6th century the Turks, who had been pushed westward by other tribes, the identification of the Turanians with the Turks was a late development, possibly made in the early 7th century, the Turks first came into contact with the Iranians only in the 6th century. The denizens of Turan were held to include the Turks, in the first four centuries of Islam essentially those nomadizing beyond the Jaxartes, the terms Turk and Turanian became used interchangeably during the Islamic era. The Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, the compilation of Iranian mythical heritage, other authors, including Tabari, Hakim Iranshah and many other texts follow like. By the 10th century, the myth of Afrasiyab was adopted by the Qarakhanid dynasty, during the Safavid era, following the common geographical convention of the Shahnameh, the term Turan was used to refer to the domain of the Uzbek empire in conflict with the Safavids
32.
Mohammad Taghi Bahar
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Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, widely known as Malek o-Shoarā and Malek o-Shoarā Bahār, is a renowned Iranian poet and scholar, who was also a politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature. Although he was a 20th-century poet, his poems are fairly traditional, mohammad-Taqí Bahār was born on November 6,1884. His father was Mohammad Kazem Sabouri, and his mother was Sakineh Tehrani. in the Sarshoor District of Mashhad, Bahār began his primary education when he was three, with his father, Mohammad Kāzem Sabouri, as his tutor. Mohammad Kāzem Sabouri was the Poet Laureate of the shrine in Mashad and had the title of Malek o-Shoarā. In addition to his schooling, Bahār attended one of the traditional schools, Maktab Khāneh. It has been said that Bahār knew by heart a good portion of the Koran at a very early age. According to Bahār himself, at seven he read Shahnameh and fully grasped the meaning of Ferdowsis Epic poems, Bahār composed his first poem at age eight, at which time he also chose the name Bahār, meaning Spring, as his pen name. It is known that Bahār chose this pen name after Bahār Shirvāni, Shirvāni was a renowned poet during Nasser-al-Din Shah Qajar. At 14, Bahār was fluent in Arabic, and later he achieved spoken and written fluency in French, at 18, he lost his father and started to work as a Muslim preacher and clergy. Bahār became a member of the Mashhad branch of Anjoman-e Saādat that campaigned for establishment of Parliament of Iran. Bahār published numerous articles in his newspapers in which he exhorted his readers to stand up. He equally forcefully advocated creation of new and reformed public institutions, after the triumph of the Constitutional Revolution, Bahār was repeatedly elected as Member of Parliament. In 1918, when Ahmad Shah Qajar, the seventh and the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, was in power, Bahār reinvented himself, he ceased all his clerical activities and became an entirely new man. In fact, this magazine became Bahārs vehicle for publication of the results of his literary researches, the magazine also played a key role in developing and strengthening the present-day form of Persian Literature. Following establishment of Tehran University in 1934, Bahār became Professor of Persian Literature at the Faculty of Literature of this University, in the course of his tenure as Professor, he dedicated most of his time to writing and editing books on Persian Literature and History. In 1945, during Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavis reign, Bahār served for a period as the Minister of Culture. Earlier in the year he and Ahmad Ghavam had created the Tiran Democratic Party. In the last years of his life, Bahār suffered from Tuberculosis and he sought medical treatment in Leysin, Switzerland, in a sanatorium, where he stayed between 1947 and 1949
33.
Obverse and reverse
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In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it depicts the head of a prominent person. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the front is more commonly used than obverse. For prints and drawings with material on both sides the one judged as more significant will be the recto, a convention now exists typically to display the obverse to the left and the reverse to the right in photographs and museum displays, but this is not invariably observed. Following this principle, in the most famous of ancient Greek coins, the tetradrachm of Athens, the obverse is the head of Athena, similar versions of these two images, both symbols of the state, were used on the Athenian coins for more than two centuries. The opposite side may have varied from time to time and this change happened in the coinage of Alexander the Great, which continued to be minted long after his death. The various Hellenistic rulers who were his successors followed his tradition and this script alone style then was used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period. The type of Justinian II was revived after the end of Iconoclasm, without images, therefore, it is not always easy to tell which side will be regarded as the obverse without some knowledge. After 695, Islamic coins avoided all images of persons and usually, the side expressing the Six Kalimas is usually defined as the obverse. The form of currency follows its function, which is to serve as an accepted medium of exchange of value. Traditionally, most states have been monarchies where the person of the monarch, if not provided for on the obverse, the reverse side usually contains information relating to a coins role as medium of exchange. Additional space typically reflects the countrys culture or government, or evokes some aspect of the states territory. Regarding the euro, some regarding the obverse and reverse of the euro coins exists. This rule does not apply to the coins as they dont have a common side. A number of the used for obverse national sides of euro coins were taken from the reverse of the old pre-euro coins of some individual countries. Several countries continue to use portraits of the monarch and the Republic of Ireland continues to use the State Arms. The Chrysanthemum Crest was no longer used after the war, and so, the side on which the date continues to be regarded as the reverse. Following ancient tradition, the obverse of coins of the United Kingdom almost always feature the head of the monarch
34.
Iranian rial
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The Iranian rial is the currency of Iran. Although the toman is no longer a unit of Iranian currency, Iranians commonly express amounts of money. For this purpose, one toman equals 10 rials, despite this usage, amounts of money and prices of goods are virtually always written in rials. For example, the next to a loaf of bread in a store would state the price in rials, e. g.10,000 Rials, even though the clerk, if asked. The Unicode Standard has a compatibility character defined U+FDFC ﷼ Rial sign, the Iranian rial was devalued in July 2013 to half its previous value as the government reduced subsidisation of the exchange rate against the dollar. In December 2016, the Iranian government announced the countrys currency will be changed from the rial to the commonly used toman and it needs the Iranian Parliaments approval. The rial was first introduced in 1798 as a coin worth 1,250 dinars or one eighth of a toman, in 1825, the rial ceased to be issued, with the qiran of 1,000 dinars being issued as part of a decimal system. The rial replaced the qiran at par in 1932, although it was divided into one hundred dinars.75 rials and this changed to 80.25 in 1936,64.350 in 1939,68.8 in 1940,141 in 1941 and 129 in 1942. In 1945, Iran switched to the U. S. dollar as the peg for its currency, the rate was changed to 1 dollar =75.75 rials in 1957. Iran did not follow the devaluation in 1973, leading to a new peg of 1 dollar =68.725 rials. The peg to the U. S. dollar was dropped in 1975, in 1979,1 rial equaled $0.0141. The value of Irans currency declined precipitously after the Islamic revolution because of flight from the country. Studies estimate that the flight of capital from Iran shortly before, whereas on 15 March 1978,71.46 rials equaled one U. S. dollar, in July 1999,9,430 rials amounted to one dollar. Injecting sudden foreign exchange revenues in the economic system forms the phenomenon of Dutch disease in a country. There are two main consequences for a country with Dutch disease, loss of competitiveness in its production goods, and hence the exports of those goods. Both cases are visible in Iran. The solution is to direct the extra revenues from oil into the National Development Fund for use in productive, although described as an market rate, the value of the Iranian rial is tightly controlled by the central bank. The state ownership of oil export earnings and its reserves, supervision of letters of credit, together with current -
35.
Pleistocene
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The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the worlds most recent period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period, the Pleistocene is the first epoch of the Quaternary Period or sixth epoch of the Cenozoic Era. In the ICS timescale, the Pleistocene is divided into four stages or ages, all of these stages were defined in southern Europe. In addition to this subdivision, various regional subdivisions are often used. Charles Lyell introduced the term pleistocene in 1839 to describe strata in Sicily that had at least 70% of their molluscan fauna still living today and this distinguished it from the older Pliocene Epoch, which Lyell had originally thought to be the youngest fossil rock layer. The Pleistocene has been dated from 2.588 million to 11,700 years before present and it covers most of the latest period of repeated glaciation, up to and including the Younger Dryas cold spell. The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to about 9640 BC, the IUGS has yet to approve a type section, Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point, for the upper Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. The proposed section is the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core 75°06 N 42°18 W, the lower boundary of the Pleistocene Series is formally defined magnetostratigraphically as the base of the Matuyama chronozone, isotopic stage 103. Above this point there are notable extinctions of the calcareous nanofossils, Discoaster pentaradiatus, the Pleistocene covers the recent period of repeated glaciations. The name Plio-Pleistocene has, in the past, been used to mean the last ice age. The revised definition of the Quaternary, by pushing back the date of the Pleistocene to 2.58 Ma. Pleistocene climate was marked by repeated glacial cycles in which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places and it is estimated that, at maximum glacial extent, 30% of the Earths surface was covered by ice. In addition, a zone of permafrost stretched southward from the edge of the sheet, a few hundred kilometres in North America. The mean annual temperature at the edge of the ice was −6 °C, during interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions. The effects of glaciation were global, antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap, there were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. The current decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one, the Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest, the east was covered by the Laurentide
36.
Holocene
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The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years before present. The term Recent has often used as an exact synonym of Holocene. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period and its name comes from the Ancient Greek words ὅλος and καινός, meaning entirely recent. It has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS1, given these, a new term, Anthropocene, is specifically proposed and used informally only for the very latest part of modern history involving significant human impact. It is accepted by the International Commission on Stratigraphy that the Holocene started approximately 11,700 years ago, the epoch follows the Pleistocene and the last glacial period. The Holocene can be subdivided into five time intervals, or chronozones, based on climatic fluctuations, Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal and they find a general correspondence across Eurasia and North America, though the method was once thought to be of no interest. The scheme was defined for Northern Europe, but the changes were claimed to occur more widely. The periods of the include a few of the final pre-Holocene oscillations of the last glacial period. Paleontologists have not defined any faunal stages for the Holocene, if subdivision is necessary, periods of human technological development, such as the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age, are usually used. However, the time periods referenced by these terms vary with the emergence of those technologies in different parts of the world, climatically, the Holocene may be divided evenly into the Hypsithermal and Neoglacial periods, the boundary coincides with the start of the Bronze Age in Europe. According to some scholars, a division, the Anthropocene, has now begun. Continental motions due to plate tectonics are less than a kilometre over a span of only 10,000 years, however, ice melt caused world sea levels to rise about 35 m in the early part of the Holocene. The sea level rise and temporary land depression allowed temporary marine incursions into areas that are now far from the sea, Holocene marine fossils are known, for example, from Vermont and Michigan. Other than higher-latitude temporary marine incursions associated with depression, Holocene fossils are found primarily in lakebed, floodplain. Holocene marine deposits along low-latitude coastlines are rare because the rise in sea levels during the period exceeds any likely tectonic uplift of non-glacial origin, post-glacial rebound in the Scandinavia region resulted in the formation of the Baltic Sea. The region continues to rise, still causing weak earthquakes across Northern Europe, the equivalent event in North America was the rebound of Hudson Bay, as it shrank from its larger, immediate post-glacial Tyrrell Sea phase, to near its present boundaries. Climate has been stable over the Holocene. It appears that this was influenced by the glacial ice remaining in the Northern Hemisphere until the later date
37.
Lava
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Lava is the molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. The resulting rock after solidification and cooling is called lava. The molten rock is formed in the interior of planets, including Earth. The source of the heat melts the rock within the earth is geothermal energy. When first erupted from a vent, lava is a liquid usually at temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C. A lava flow is an outpouring of lava, which is created during a non-explosive effusive eruption. When it has stopped moving, lava solidifies to form igneous rock, the term lava flow is commonly shortened to lava. Although lava can be up to 100,000 times more viscous than water, lava can flow great distances before cooling and solidifying because of its thixotropic, explosive eruptions produce a mixture of volcanic ash and other fragments called tephra, rather than lava flows. The word lava comes from Italian, and is derived from the Latin word labes which means a fall or slide. The first use in connection with extruded magma was apparently in an account written by Francesco Serao on the eruption of Vesuvius between May 14 and June 4,1737. Serao described a flow of lava as an analogy to the flow of water. The composition of almost all lava of the Earths crust is dominated by silicate minerals, mostly feldspars, olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, igneous rocks, which form lava flows when erupted, can be classified into three chemical types, felsic, intermediate, and mafic. These classes are primarily chemical, however, the chemistry of lava also tends to correlate with the temperature, its viscosity. Felsic or silicic lavas such as rhyolite and dacite typically form lava spines, most silicic lava flows are extremely viscous, and typically fragment as they extrude, producing blocky autobreccias. Felsic magmas can erupt at temperatures as low as 650 to 750 °C, unusually hot rhyolite lavas, however, may flow for distances of many tens of kilometres, such as in the Snake River Plain of the northwestern United States. Intermediate or andesitic lavas are lower in aluminium and silica, and usually somewhat richer in magnesium, intermediate lavas form andesite domes and block lavas, and may occur on steep composite volcanoes, such as in the Andes. Poorer in aluminium and silica than felsic lavas, and also commonly hotter, greater temperatures tend to destroy polymerized bonds within the magma, promoting more fluid behaviour and also a greater tendency to form phenocrysts. Higher iron and magnesium tends to manifest as a darker groundmass, mafic or basaltic lavas are typified by their high ferromagnesian content, and generally erupt at temperatures in excess of 950 °C
38.
Trachyte
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Trachyte is an igneous volcanic rock with an aphanitic to porphyritic texture. It is the equivalent of syenite. The mineral assemblage consists of essential alkali feldspar, relatively minor plagioclase, biotite, clinopyroxene and olivine are common accessory minerals. Chemically, trachyte contains 60 to 65% silica content, less SiO2 than rhyolite and these chemical differences are consistent with the position of trachyte in the TAS classification, and they account for the feldspar-rich mineralogy of the rock type. Trachytes usually consist mainly of sanidine feldspar, very often they have minute irregular steam cavities which make the broken surfaces of specimens of these rocks rough and irregular, and from this character they have derived their name. The trachytes are often described as being the equivalents of the plutonic syenites. Rhomb porphyry is an example with usually large porphyritic rhomb shaped phenocrysts embedded in a very fine-grained matrix, quartz is typically rare in trachyte, but tridymite is by no means uncommon. They often cover the surfaces of the larger feldspars or line the cavities of the rock. In the older trachytes, secondary quartz is not rare, of the mafic minerals present, augite is the most common. It is usually of pale color, and its small crystals are often very perfect in form. Olivine is unusual, though found in some trachytes, like those of the Arso in Ischia, basic varieties of plagioclase, such as labradorite, are known also as phenocrysts in some Italian trachytes. Dark brown varieties of augite and rhombic pyroxene have been observed but are not common, apatite, zircon and magnetite are practically always present as accessory minerals. Trachytes, being rich in potassium feldspar, necessarily contain considerable amounts of alkali. Occasionally minerals of the group, such as nepheline, sodalite and leucite, occur. In many trachytes, however, the phenocrysts are few and small, the ferromagnesian minerals rarely occur in large crystals, and are usually not conspicuous in hand specimens of these rocks. Sometimes granular augite or spongy riebeckite occurs in the groundmass, trachytes are well represented among the Cenozoic volcanic rocks of Europe. In the neighborhood of Rome, Naples and the island of Ischia trachytic lavas, trachytes are also found on the island of Pantelleria. In the United States, trachytes crop out extensively in the Davis Mountains, Chisos Mountains, in England there are Permian trachytes in the Exeter district, and Carboniferous trachytes are found in many parts of the central valley of Scotland
39.
Andesite
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For the extinct cephalopod genus, see Andesites. Andesite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the type between basalt and dacite, and ranges from 57 to 63% silicon dioxide as illustrated in TAS diagrams. The mineral assemblage is dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene or hornblende. Magnetite, zircon, apatite, ilmenite, biotite, and garnet are common accessory minerals, alkali feldspar may be present in minor amounts. The quartz-feldspar abundances in andesite and other rocks are illustrated in QAPF diagrams. Classification of andesites may be refined according to the most abundant phenocryst, example, hornblende-phyric andesite, if hornblende is the principal accessory mineral. Andesite can be considered as the equivalent of plutonic diorite. Characteristic of subduction zones, andesite represents the dominant rock type in island arcs, the average composition of the continental crust is andesitic. Along with basalts they are a component of the Martian crust. The name andesite is derived from the Andes mountain range, magmatism in island arc regions comes from the interplay of the subducting plate and the mantle wedge, the wedge-shaped region between the subducting and overriding plates. During subduction, the oceanic crust is submitted to increasing pressure and temperature. Hydrous minerals such as amphibole, zeolites, chlorite etc. dehydrate as they change to more stable, anhydrous forms, releasing water, fluxing water into the wedge lowers the solidus of the mantle material and causes partial melting. Due to the density of the partially molten material, it rises through the wedge until it reaches the lower boundary of the overriding plate. Basalt thus formed can contribute to the formation of andesite through fractional crystallization, partial melting of crust, or magma mixing, andesite is typically formed at convergent plate margins but may occur in other tectonic settings. Intermediate volcanic rocks are created via several processes, Fractional crystallization of a mafic parent magma and this removal can take place in a variety of ways, but most commonly this occurs by crystal settling. The first minerals to crystallize and be removed from a parent are olivines and amphiboles. These mafic minerals settle out of the magma, forming mafic cumulates, there is geophysical evidence from several arcs that large layers of mafic cumulates lie at the base of the crust
40.
Basalt
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Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or moon. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series of basalt flows. By definition, basalt is an igneous rock with generally 45-55% silica and less than 10% feldspathoid by volume. Basalt commonly features a very fine-grained or glassy matrix interspersed with visible mineral grains, the average density is 3.0 gm/cm3. Basalt is defined by its content and texture, and physical descriptions without mineralogical context may be unreliable in some circumstances. Basalt is usually grey to black in colour, but rapidly weathers to brown or rust-red due to oxidation of its mafic minerals into hematite, although usually characterized as dark, basaltic rocks exhibit a wide range of shading due to regional geochemical processes. Due to weathering or high concentrations of plagioclase, some basalts can be quite light-coloured and these phenocrysts usually are of olivine or a calcium-rich plagioclase, which have the highest melting temperatures of the typical minerals that can crystallize from the melt. Basalt with a texture is called vesicular basalt, when the bulk of the rock is mostly solid. Gabbro is often marketed commercially as black granite and these ultramafic volcanic rocks, with silica contents below 45% are usually classified as komatiites. Agricola applied basalt to the black rock of the Schloßberg at Stolpen. Tholeiitic basalt is relatively rich in silica and poor in sodium, included in this category are most basalts of the ocean floor, most large oceanic islands, and continental flood basalts such as the Columbia River Plateau. Basalt rocks are in some cases classified after their content in High-Ti and Low-Ti varieties. High-Ti and Low-Ti basalts have been distinguished in the Paraná and Etendeka traps and it has greater than 17% alumina and is intermediate in composition between tholeiite and alkali basalt, the relatively alumina-rich composition is based on rocks without phenocrysts of plagioclase. Alkali basalt is relatively poor in silica and rich in sodium and it is silica-undersaturated and may contain feldspathoids, alkali feldspar and phlogopite. Boninite is a form of basalt that is erupted generally in back-arc basins. Ocean island basalt Lunar basalt On Earth, most basalt magmas have formed by melting of the mantle. Basalt commonly erupts on Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter, and has formed on the Moon, Mars, Venus. The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling mantle below, the mineralogy of basalt is characterized by a preponderance of calcic plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene
listen)), a potentially active volcano, is a stratovolcano which is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East, and the highest volcano in Asia; the Kunlun Volcanic Group in Tibet is higher than Damāvand, but are not considered to be volcanic mountains.[7][8] Damāvand has a special place in Persian mythology and folklore, it is in the middle of the Alborz range, adjacent to Varārū, Sesang, Gol-e Zard, and Mīānrūd. It is near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Amol County, Mazandaran Province, 66 kilometres (41 miles) northeast of the city of Tehran.[9]
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