Alborz Mountains underneath clouds seen from Tehran
Alborz (in Persian البرز), also written as Alburz or Elburz, is a mountain range in northern Iran, stretching from the borders of Armenia in the north-west to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, where also Tehran and Iran's highest peak, Damavand (5604m) are, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The Alborz mountain range forms a barrier between the south Caspian and the Qazvin-Tehran plateau. It is only 60-130 km wide and consists of sedimentary series dating from Upper Devonian to Oligocene, prevalently jurassic limestone over a granite core.
Alborz enjoys a central role in the historical texts of Iran such as the Shahnama, and also in Persian mythology.
It should not be confused with the Elbrus mountain in the Caucasus mountains.
Source
North, S.J.R., Guide to Biblical Iran, Rome 1956, p. 50
The part of the Elburz immediately north of Teheran is known as the Kuh i Shimran (mountain of Shimran, from the name of the Shimran district on its southern slopes) and culminates in the Sari Tochal (12.600 ft.).
The breadth of the lowlands between the foot of the hills and the sea is from 2 to 25 m., the greatest breadth being in the meridian of Resht in Gilan, and in the districts o~ Amol, Sari and Barfurush in Mazandaran.
The higher ranges of the Elburz are snow.~capped for the greater part of the year, and some, which are not exposed to the refracted heat from the arid districts of inner Persia, are rarely without snow.
In Iranâs northern reaches, a steep, narrow mountain range, the Elburz Mountains, rims the entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
East of the Elburz Mountains is a series of parallel mountain ranges with elevations of 2,400 to 2,700 m (8,000 to 9,000 ft).
A devastating earthquake centered in the fault zone where the Elburz and Zagros mountains intersect in northwestern Iran killed an estimated 37,000 people in June 1990.
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