Alborz
There are two main mountain ranges in Iran which cover significant part of the country. Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges. Alborz, also spelled Alburz or Elborz, is a sinuous east-west range across northern Iran which begins from north west of Iran close to Azerbaijan borders, stretches towards east and crossing south of the Caspian Sea and runs northeast of Iran close to Turkmenistan. Alborz mountain range has more than 1200 km length and is divided into three part: Western Alborz, Central Alborz and Eastern Alborz. There are many highlights of Iran destinations located in Alborz. Three highest peaks of Iran are located in this mountain range. Mount Damavand (5609 m) is in central Alborz; Alam-kuh (4850 m)
and Sabalan (4811 m) are in western Alborz. There are also many other mountains higher than 3000 or 4000 meters in this part. The difference of climate is obvious in this mountain range. On the north side the humidity of Caspian Sea creates Hurricane forests which is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, so high mounts of Alborz form a barrier and don’t allow the humid weather to cross to southern parts so there are different climate and plants on the other side. Potential activities for adventuring are mountaineering, rock climbing, ski touring, paragliding, canyoning, mountain biking, and many other activities.
Geology of Alborz
Alborz is known as Alpine because of its resembling in structure and 6 structural zones are recognized.
A crystalline basement covered by a thin layer of Mesozoic sediments. The second zone is a folded belt of Mesozoic and Neogene rocks. North-Central zone which is recognized by shelf sedimentation from Infra-Cambrian to Cretaceous epochs. The forth is South-Central zone which is a pre-Tertiary shelf overlain by very thick Tertiary volcanics. Southern Tertiary Zone consists of very thick Eocene volcanic rocks.