Mount Ararat

Mount Ararat (16,940 feet, 5165 m) is the largest volcano in Turkey. Although not currently active, its most recent eruption has probably been within the last 10,000 years. It is located in extreme northeastern Turkey, near the borders with Iran and Armenia. Southwest of the main peak lies Little Ararat (12,877 feet, 3896 m). Ahora Gorge is a northeast-trending chasm dropping 6000 feet from the top of the mountain and was the focus of a major earthquake in 1840. A number of claims by different explorers to have found remnants of Noah’s Ark on Mt. Ararat have led to continuing expeditions to the mountain, many of which have focused their searches on the gorge area.

Ararat consists of two volcanic peaks: Big Ararat (5137 m) and Little Ararat (3,914m). The top of Big Ararat is covered with snow all year long. The Old Testament story of Noah says that Noah’s ark came to rest on Ararat following the Great Flood. This image is a 3-D perspective view looking from the southwest, created by draping a simulated natural color image over an ASTER-derived digital topography model. The image was acquired on 25 June 2002, and is located at 39.75 degrees North latitude, 44.4 degrees East longitude