When people think of the nation of Turkey, volcanoes aren't typically the first thing
which comes to mind.
Yet, the country contains 10 active volcanoes, including a young massive caldera, and another
volcano which erupted in 1855.
Of these volcanoes, none are more famous than the peak which is also the tallest point in
the country; Ararat.
Standing at 5,165 meters or 16,946 feet tall, this volcano is surprisingly active.
Its last eruption in 1840 was associated with a catastrophic landslide and lahar to the
north, which buried several villages.
Thus, due to its height, Ararat is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the region
if it were to erupt again.
Mount Ararat can be found in far eastern Turkey where its summit is only 15 kilometers west
of the border with Iran.
Ararat is a truly massive complex which contains two separated but large volcanic cones, vast
flows of andesite lava, and large dacite lava domes.
The exact reason why this section of Turkey contains a number of young volcanoes is not
truly known, but here is a leading theory.
Around 6 million years ago, a large section of thick lithosphere underlying eastern Turkey
began forming a large downward facing mass, much like a drop of water emerging from the
ceiling.
It eventually broke off, causing the floating crust above it to rebound upwards.
This rebound caused magma to rush upwards to fill the space removed by the missing lithosphere,
causing batches of magma to intermittently travel into the crust and erupt on the surface,
producing a chain of volcanoes.
Mount Ararat began forming 1.5 million years ago, when a large fissure opened up on the
surface which was elongated in a northwest to southeast direction.
From this fissure emerged a vast quantity of basaltic lava, which erupted in a spectacular
series of lava fountains.
These eruptions were unusually explosive, and produced frequent plumes of ash which
traveled more than 15 kilometers into the atmosphere.
Over the span of several hundred thousand years, these eruptions continued, depositing
a total thickness of 700 meters or 2,300 feet thick of basaltic rock.
Today, the remnants of this phase of activity can be seen in the vast eroded lava flows
on the north-northwest slope of Ararat.
Eventually, volcanic activity concentrated at a single point in the elongated fissure,
which caused eruptions to begin building a large volcanic cone.
The composition of eruptions also changed to both andesite and dacite, the latter of
which produced large and rounded lava domes.
By the end of this eruptive period, Ararat was approximately its modern height, and had
a distinguishable gray color as it was covered in thick layers of ash.
Eruptions eventually moved away from the main peak, constructing a number of lava domes
and the secondary peak known as Lesser Ararat.
In 2450 BC, two massive explosions occurred, as magma came into contact with shallow groundwater.
This carved out a series of two craters, the larger of which is 800 meters wide.
A viscous dacite magma then emerged, which traveled 5 kilometers to the northwest.
In 550 BC, another explosive eruption occurred in the same region, building a group of overlapping
lava domes.
In 1450 and then again in 1783, small phreatic eruptions were reported to have occurred near
the main summit of Ararat.
Then, in 1840, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck underneath the volcano.
This triggered a phreatic eruption at its summit, resulting in pyroclastic flows racing
out of the mountain and into a village 10 kilometers to the north, destroying it.
These flows quickly melted 100 million cubic meters of ice, which rapidly flowed downhill
in a massive lahar.
This lahar had such a large mass that it created a 300 meter deep ravine, as part of the volcano's
edifice also slid away.
What had just occurred was the most destructive eruption in the history of Turkey, despite
never erupting any lava.
Looking around the volcano, there are signs of a similar ancient lahar to the south, which
reportedly occurred in 139 BC, potentially associated with a yet to be confirmed eruption.
Thus, as long as Ararat has a glacier or snow on its summit, an eruption could without warning
cause a repeat of the 1840 landslide.
Other hazards are pyroclastic flows and flows of viscous lava, but these dangers are less
likely to reach any nearby towns.
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