Nice Photo Gallery: Damavand peak,Tehran

Damavand volcano towers dramatically 70 km to the NE above Iran’s capital city of Tehran and 70 km south of the Caspian Sea. The 5670-m-high stratovolcano is the highest volcano in the Middle East. A younger cone has been constructed during the past 600,000 years over an older edifice, remnants of which were previously interpreted as a caldera wall. Flank vents are rare, and activity at the dominantly trachyandesite volcano has been concentrated at the summit vent, which has produced a series of radial lava flows. Lava effusion has dominated at Damavand; pyroclastic activity has been limited and the only major explosive event produced a welded ignimbrite about 280,000 years ago. The youngest activity has consisted of the eruption of a series of lava flows from the summit vent that cover the western side of the volcano. The youngest dated lava flows were emplaced about 7000 years ago. No historical eruptions are known from Damavand, but hot springs are located on the volcano’s flanks, and fumaroles are found at the summit crater.