Armenia Geography Profile 2012

The geography of Armenia, the Caucasus, is characterized by its location in north-eastern highlands of Armenia and its mountain ranges very high. Nearly 90% of the territory is more than a thousand meters of altitude. Its highest point is Mount Ararat history and 5160 meters to 1918 and since then Mount Ararat is in Turkey. The highest point is Mount Aragats current and 4090 meters. Armenia is located in the heart of an area that is experiencing high seismic activity. The last major earthquake has made thirty thousand deaths in 1988,.

The Armenian landscape is also characterized by its lakes, including Lake Sevan, a lake of 1 262.2 km 2 located 60 km east of Yerevan, the capital.

The climate is continental, the vegetation is still scarce and limited by deforestation.

Is geography is characterized by its division in ten regions or Marz, plus the capital Yerevan. These regions are divided in 926 communities (48 urban and 865 rural communities), in turn subdivided into a thousand places.

Physical environment

Armenia is located in southern Transcaucasia, the region southwest of Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Modern Armenia term means under Republic of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic and occupies part of historical Armenia, whose ancient centers were in the valley of the Araks River and the region around Lake Van in Turkey. Armenia is bordered on the north by Georgia, on the east by Azerbaijan, on the southwest by the Nakhchivan Republic of Azerbaijan, on the south by Iran, and on the west by Turkey.

Topography and drainage

Twenty-five million years ago, a geological upheaval pushed up the Earth's crust to form the Armenian Plateau, creating the complex topography of modern Armenia. The Lesser Caucasus range extends through northern Armenia, runs southeast between Lake Sevan and Azerbaijan, then passes roughly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to Iran. Thus situated, the mountains make travel from north to south difficult. Geological turmoil continues in the form of devastating earthquakes, which have plagued Armenia. In December 1988, the second largest city in the republic, Leninakan (now Gyumri), was heavily damaged by a massive quake that killed more than 25,000 people.

About half of Armenia's area of approximately 29,800 square kilometers (11,505.8 sq mi) has an elevation of at least 2,000 meters (6,562 ft), and only 3 % of the country lies below 650 meters (2,133 ft). The lowest points are in the valleys of the Araks River and the Debet River in the far north, which have elevations of 380 and 430 meters (1,247 and 1,411 ft), respectively. Elevations in the Lesser Caucasus vary between 2,640 and 3,280 meters (8,661 and 10,761 ft). To the southwest of the range is the Armenian Plateau, which slopes southwestward toward the Araks River on the Turkish border. The plateau is masked by intermediate mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes. The largest of these, Mount Aragats, 4,430 meters (14,534 ft) high, is also the highest point in Armenia. Most of the population lives in the western and northwestern parts of the country, where the two major cities, Yerevan and Gyumri (which was called Aleksandropol' during the tsarist period), are located.

The valleys of the Debet and Akstafa rivers form the chief routes into Armenia from the north as they pass through the mountains. Lake Sevan, 72.5 kilometers (45 mi) across at its widest point and 376 kilometers (233.6 mi) long, is by far the largest lake. It lies 2,070 meters (6,791 ft) above sea level on the plateau. Terrain is most rugged in the extreme southeast, which is drained by the Bargushat River, and most moderate in the Araks River valley to the extreme southwest. Most of Armenia is drained by the Araks or its tributary, the Hrazdan, which flows from Lake Sevan. The Araks forms most of Armenia's border with Turkey and Iran while the Zangezur Mountains form the border between Armenia's southern province of Syunik and Azerbaijan's adjacent Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

Climate

Temperatures in Armenia generally depend upon elevation. Mountain formations block the moderating climatic influences of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, creating wide seasonal variations. On the Armenian Plateau, the mean midwinter temperature is 0 °C (32 °F), and the mean midsummer temperature exceeds 25 °C (77 °F). Average precipitation ranges from 250 millimeters (9.8 in) per year in the lower Araks River valley to 800 millimeters (31.5 in) at the highest altitudes. Despite the harshness of winter in most parts, the fertility of the plateau's volcanic soil made Armenia one of the world's earliest sites of agricultural activity.