The mountain range in Iran that contains the country’s highest peak, Mount Damavand, is the Alborz. Damavand reaches about 5,609 metres and rises in the central Alborz near the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.
The Alborz Mountains arc across northern Iran, separating the Iranian Plateau from the Caspian lowlands. Their geology reflects the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, the same broad tectonic forces that helped raise other major mountain systems farther east. Damavand is especially remarkable because it is a dormant stratovolcano rather than simply a sharply folded mountain peak.
Damavand is deeply embedded in Persian mythology and literature, including the national epic Shahnameh, where it is associated with the imprisonment of the tyrant Zahhak. The Alborz also includes Alam-Kuh, Iran’s second-highest major summit, which has a dramatic granite north face popular with climbers. The Zagros Mountains are another major Iranian range, but they lie mainly to the west and do not contain Damavand.