Mt. Aragats (Aragatsotn province, Armenia) - Volcano Watching on Waymarking.com

Mt. Aragats (4095 m), crowned by four summits created by caldera, is ancient stratovolcano and also is the highest mountain of Armenia and Southern Caucasus.

Aragats is a large andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano, located about 40 km NW of the capital city of Yerevan. The 4095 m high main edifice of Aragats is dissected by glaciers and is of Pliocene-to-Pleistocene age. Satellitic cones and fissures are located on all sides of the volcano and were the source of large lava flows that descended its lower flanks. Several of these were considered to be of Holocene age, but later Potassium-Argon dating indicated mid- to late-Pleistocene ages. The youngest lower-flank flows have not been precisely dated, but are constrained as occurring between the end of the late-Pleistocene and 3000 BC. A 13 km long, WSW-ENE-trending line of craters and pyroclastic cones cuts across the northern crater rim and is the source of young lava flows and lahars; the latter were considered to be characteristic of Holocene summit eruptions.

The waymarked coordinates and some gallery pictures describe the Southern summit of Aragats (3895 m). The Southern summit is a relatively easy walk, and climbed quite frequently. However, the weather can change rapidly even during the hot summers. It is climbed from Kari Lake (3190 m). There are no set paths, but the summit is visible from Kari Lake. The climb takes about 4 hours.