The Köpet Dag , Kopet Dagh , or Koppeh Dagh ( Turkmen : Köpetdag ; Persian : کپهداغ ), also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range, is a mountain range on the border between Turkmenistan and Iran that extends about 650 kilometres (400 mi) along the border southeast of the Caspian Sea , stretching northwest-southeast from near the Caspian Sea in the northwest to the Harirud River in the southeast. In the southwest it borders on the parallel eastern endings of the Alborz mountains being together part of the much larger Alpide belt . The highest peak of the range in Turkmenistan is the Mount Rizeh (Kuh-e Rizeh), located at the southwest of the capital Ashgabat and stands at 2,940 metres (9,646 ft). The highest Iranian summit is Mount Quchan (Kuh-e Quchan) at 3,191 metres (10,469 ft).
19-627: Vambery conjectured that köpet originates from the Turkmen language where "köp" means "a lot" or "many" and the word "dag" means "mountain" or "peak". He thus translated Köpetdag as "Many mountains (peaks)". He and others noted that in Persian koppeh means "pile" or "heap", and the word dag or dagh means "mountain" in Turkic. Thus, a second conjecture held that the Persian version of Kopet Dagh or Koppeh Dagh could be defined as "the mountain that
38-693: A separate tectonic plate and Laurentia became North America . The Proto-Caribbean Sea continued to grow and the Paraná-Etendeka LIP began to break Africa into three pieces. The Falkland Plateau broke off from southern Africa at 132 Ma and Madagascar ceased to move independently c. 120 Ma. In the Panthalassic Ocean the Pacific Plate continued to grow; the Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane formed
57-638: Is archaeological evidence of settlement in the well-watered northern foothills of the Kopet Dag during the Neolithic period. This region is dotted with the multi-period hallmarks characteristic of the ancient Near East, similar to those southwest of the Kopet Dag in the Gorgan Plain in Iran. At Jeitun (or Djeitun), mud brick houses were first occupied c. 6000 BC (see BMAC origins ). Also the foothills of
76-448: Is piled or heaped" and therefore the words could mean "piled or hilly mountains" or "low hills" in general. Ataniyazov, however, rejects those hypotheses: The word kopet is probably derived from the Persian word kuhibet ( kuh - "dag", bet - "bad") and means "bad mountain". No name was given to the entirety of this range, but a name was given to each part of it...According to Murzayev, the section of this mountain range west of Ashgabat
95-576: The Boissier pear and telka , is a species of Pyrus (pear) native to southwestern Turkey as well as the Kopet Dag region on the Turkmenistan and Iranian border. In its native locales it is cultivated as a rootstock for domestic pears. Pyrus boissieriana is a regional deciduous tree in the woodland which also has many different fruit trees, shrubs, and vines valuable for human use. It
114-655: The Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous . It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian–Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a)
133-853: The Paraná–Etendeka LIP produced 1.5 million km of basalts and rhyolites , beginning 133 Ma and lasting for a million years. The opening of the Central Atlantic continued as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge spread north to separate the Iberian Peninsula from the banks of Newfoundland and to connect to the Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean. With the opening of the Labrador Sea , Greenland became
152-867: The Tethys Sea was closed and the Arabian plate collided with the Iranian plate and was pushed against it and with the clockwise movement of the Eurasian plate towards the Iranian plate and their final collision, the Iranian plate was pressed against the Turan Platform. This collision folded the entire rocks that had been deposited in this geosyncline or basin from the Jurassic to the Miocene and formed
171-803: The Bering Strait. Continued rifting opened new basins in the Indian Ocean, separating India, Antarctica, and Australia. By 110 Ma the Mid-Atlantic Ridge reached south into the Proto-Caribbean and South Atlantic, effectively separating South America from Africa, and continued rifting in the northern end completed the longitudinal extent of the Atlantic. In Panthalassa the Ontong-Java Mega-LIP resulted in
190-933: The Early Cretaceous. Sinodelphys was more closely related to metatherians (marsupials) than eutherians (placentals) and had feet adapted for climbing trees. Steropodon is the oldest monotreme (egg-lying mammal) discovered. It lived in Gondwana (now Australia) at 105 Ma. Oil in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field has been interpreted as being sourced from the Triassic Shublik Formation shale and carbonate, Lower Cretaceous highly radioactive zone shale, and Lower Jurassic Kingak Shale . [REDACTED] Geology portal [REDACTED] Palaeontology portal Pyrus boissieriana Pyrus boissieriana ,
209-644: The Early Cretaceous; Archaefructaceae , one of the oldest fossil families (124.6 Ma) was found in the Yixian Formation , China. This time also saw the evolution of the first members of the Neornithes (modern birds). Sinodelphys , a 125 Ma-old boreosphenidan mammal found in the Yixian Formation, China, is one of the oldest mammal fossils found. The fossil location indicates early mammals began to diversify from Asia during
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#1732782547384228-656: The Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kerguelen Plateau – Broken Ridge , together covering 2,300,000 km . Another LIP on the Liaodong Peninsula , China, c. 131–117 Ma, lasted for 10 million years. It was the result of the subduction of the Kula and Pacific plates, which was probably caused by a superplume . During the opening of the South Atlantic
247-587: The Kopet Dag Mountains. The Kopet Dag Range is a region characterized by foothills, dry and sandy slopes, mountain plateaus, and steep ravines. The Kopet Dag is undergoing tectonic transformation, and is subject to severe earthquakes. Earthquakes exceeding seven on the Richter scale have been recorded. The most western foothills of the Kopetdag mountains are known as the 'Kürendag Ridge'. There
266-1057: The Kopet-Dag near Ashgabat are the site of the remains of the ancient Parthian city of Nisa (Nessa, Nusaý). This mountain range has a ski resort , officially opened by the former president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov . Despite the lack of snow in the Kopet Dag mountains, Niyazov was determined to build a major resort there. The woodlands of the region are home to many fruit trees, shrubs, and vines that have proved valuable for human use and selective breeding , including pomegranate ( Punica granatum ), wild grapes Vitis sylvestris , fig ( Ficus carica ), wild apple ( Malus turkmenorum ), wild pear ( Pyrus boissieriana ), wild cherries ( Prunus spp. , also called Cerasus microcarpa, C. erythrocarpa, C. blinovskii ), wild prune ( Prunus divaricata ), almonds ( Amygdalus communis = Prunus dulcis , and A. scoparia = Prunus scoparia ), and hawthorns ( Crataegus spp. ). Lower Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or
285-495: The Turkmens call it "God bless you". In the second half of the last century, Russian scholars who studied in the Kopetdag passed the name onto maps as the name of the entire range and spread it to the public. Many of the elders living in the foothills of the Kopetdag do not know the name Kopetdag...Vambery conjectures that the word kopet is derived from the words kubbet , kuppe (perhaps a lot — S.A.)...Pomerantsev also interprets
304-536: The formation of new tectonic plates and in the Indian Ocean the Kerguelen LIP began to push India northward. During this time many new types of dinosaur appeared or came into prominence, including ceratopsians , spinosaurids , carcharodontosaurids and coelurosaurs , while survivors from the Late Jurassic continued to persist. Angiosperms (flowering plants) appeared for the first time during
323-696: The name as "multi-mountain" (mountain range), while the locals consider it part of the mythical Cape Mountain in Kopet, but these interpretations are incorrect. Geologically, the Kopet Dag Range is made chiefly of Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks with a smaller portion of Jurassic rocks in the southeastern parts. The mountains were formed in the Miocene and the Pliocene during the Alpine orogeny . As
342-465: Was called Kopetdag (Murzayev. SA, p. 248). The most common name for this part of the range was Taňrigargan ("God bless you")...the Persians called it Kupet ...(in Persian this name is wah, i.e., it is spelled with a long drawn-out Ku: pet and Ku: bet). For the most part, it was very dangerous to cross, because of the wind and the cold. That is why the Persians call the mountain range "bad mountain" and
361-581: Was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java - Manihiki - Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km . In
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