Mount Kazbek
| Mount Kazbek | |
|---|---|
Mount Kazbek
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 5,047 m (16,558 ft) |
| Prominence | 2,353 m (7,720 ft) |
| Listing | Ultra |
| Coordinates | 42°41′57″N 44°31′06″E / 42.69917°N 44.51833°ECoordinates: 42°41′57″N 44°31′06″E / 42.69917°N 44.51833°E |
| Geography | |
 Kazbek
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| Location | |
| Parent range | Caucasus |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano (dormant) |
| Last eruption | 750 BCE ± 50 years |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 1868 by Douglas Freshfield, A. W. Moore, C. C. Tucker and François Devouassoud |
| Easiest route | Basic snow/ice climb |
Mount Kazbek (Georgian: მყინვარწვერი, Mqinvartsveri; Ossetian: Сæна, Sæna; Russian: Казбек, Kazbek), is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located on the border of Georgia's Kazbegi District and Russia's Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.
It is the third-highest peak in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh-highest summit in the Caucasus Mountains. Kazbek is also the second-highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. The summit lies directly to the west of the town of Stepantsminda and is the most prominent geographic feature of the area. Mount Kazbek is the highest peak of Eastern Georgia. The name in Georgian, Mkinvartsveri, translates to "Glacier Peak" or "Freezing Cold Peak". The Vainakh name Bashlam translates as "Molten Mount".
Kazbek is located on the Khokh Range, a mountain range which runs north of the Greater Caucasus Range, and which is pierced by the gorges of the Ardon and the Terek. At its eastern foot runs the Georgian Military Road through the pass of Darial 2,378 meters (7,805 feet). The mountain itself lies along the edge of the Borjomi–Kazbegi Fault (which is a northern sub-ending of the North Anatolian Fault). The region is highly active tectonically, with numerous small earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active geothermal/hot spring system also surrounds the mountain. Kazbek is a potentially active volcano, built up of trachyte and sheathed with lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770 meters (5,800 feet). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes Mount Khabarjina (3,142 metres).
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