Iran's Volcanic Activity

     Iran lies between the Eurasian and Arabic tectonic plate that is known as the collision zone. Iran consists of a few intraplate volcanoes. Most notable is the stratovolcano, which is also the highest mountain in the Middle Eastern region. Mount Bazman is the youngest volcano of Iran. It is located 115 km away from northwest of Iranshahr and and 120 km away from Westrern Kash. This semi- active volcano has a height of 3490 meters from sea level. Bazman is made of pumice, lava and breccia, alternately. It was known to appear during the Quaternary period. Through observation, there has been a couple of small cones, made of basalt lava, spotted around the main peaks; the known rocks are made of acidic lavas seen in western flanks known as andesite and dacite. It's biggest crater has a diameter of 5000 meters. Mount Sabalan is a point type volcano bearing a stratavolcano cone. It's located in the western part of Ardebil with a height of 4800 meters. This mountain includes three cones along with each other and it's lava distribution indicates huge explosion and discharge of lava high volume. Geologically, it' s region is at the Oligocene big horst. Mount Sabalans only sign of activity is various sulfuric and hot water springs indicating post- volcanism phenomenon. Iran's third volcano is Mount Sahand. It has 12 cones separated a couple meters apart from one another. Sahand is located in southeastern region of Tabriz and has a height of 3600 meters. It's cones are made of tuff an ash. Existence of high volume of ash and pume pieces in far distanced indicates vigorous explosion. Mount Taftan is a semi- active volcano being the highest mount of Baluchestan, 450 meters from sea level, located near Khash city. Andestic is it's type of lava. It is an active volcano due to the various sulfuric springs surrounding the mount and gas emission from its highest peak. In 1970 to 1971, it was reported that molten materials came out of Taftan. Mount Damavand is a stratovolcano, as well as the highest mountain in the Middle Eastern region. It is placed 70 km northeast of Tehran and 70 km south of Caspian Sea. Mount Damavand' s first eruption was about 1. 78 million years ago in the Pleistocene. There were several known eruptions around 600, 000 and 280, 000 years ago, until it finally erupted 7, 300 years ago in the Holocene. It' s steep cone is formed by ash and lava flow made of trachyte, andesite, and basalt. Mount Damavand can be considered a potentially active volcano considering July 6, 2007 where fumaroles near the summit crater were emitting sulfur. Unfortunately, I could not find much information on Iran warning people of volcanoes. I believe since their volcanoes due not have extreme activity, the Iranian people are not extremely concerned and do not have it at the top of their priority list. Although, one fact I found interesting is a proposal has been made by the Iranian mountaineers to register Mount Damavand as a national heritage site. The department of Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism has accepted the proposal. I think it is a great idea for Iran to have an educational and research institution, especially of a volcano.

Works Cited 

"Damavand." Volcano, Iran. Volcano Discovery, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.

"Damavand Volcano Iran." Damavand Volcano Iran. Damawand.de, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.

"Volcano World." Damavand. Oregon State University, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.