ELBURZ, more correctly ELBRUZ, a chain of mountains, separating the Caspian depression from the Persian highlands, and extending without any break for 65o m. from the western shore of the Caspian Sea to north-eastern Khurasan. According to the direction, or strike, of its principal ranges the Elburz may be divided into three sections : the first 120 M. in length with a direc tion nearly N. to S., the second 240 m. in length with a direction N.W. to S.E., and the third 290 m. in length striking S.W. to N.E. The first section, which is connected with the system of the Caucasus, and begins west of Lenkoran in 39° N. and 49° E., is known as the Talish range and has several peaks 9,00o to 1 o,000 ft. in height. It runs almost parallel to the western shore of the Caspian, and west of Astara is only 1 o or 12 m. distant from the sea. At the point west of Resht, where the direction of the prin cipal range changes to one of N.W. to S.E., the second section of the Elburz begins, and extends from there to beyond Mount Damavand, east of Tehran. South of Resht this section is broken through at almost a right angle by the Safid Rud (White river), and along it runs the motor road between the Caspian and inner Persia, Resht-Kazvin-Tehran. The Elburz then splits into three principal ranges running parallel to one another and connected at many places by secondary ranges and spurs. Many peaks of the ranges in this section have an altitude of ii,000 to 13,000 ft., and the elevation of the passes leading over the ranges varies between 7.000 and 10,00o ft. The highest peaks are situated in the district of Talikan, N.W. of Tehran, and thence eastwards to beyond Mount Damavand. The part of the Elburz immediately north of Teheran is known as the Kuh i Shamran (from the name of the Shamran district on its southern slopes) and culminates in the Sar i Tuchal (12,60o ft.). Beyond it, and between the border of Talikan in the N.W. and Mount Damavand in the N.E., are ranges with elevations of 12,000 to 13.500 ft., while Damavand towers above them all with its altitude of 18,60o ft. The eastern foot of Damavand is washed by the river Harhaz, which there breaks through the Elburz in a S.-N. direction in its course to the Caspian, past the town of Amul. The third section of the Elburz, with its principal ranges striking S.W. to N.E., has a length of about 290 m., and ends some distance beyond Bujnurd in northern Khurasan, where it joins the Ala Dagh range, which has a direction to the S.E., and, continuing with various appellations to northern Afghanistan, unites with the Paropamisus range. This section of three principal ranges has many peaks over I o,000 ft. in height, and the Nizva mountain on the southern border of the unexplored district of Hazar Jarib, north of Samnan, and the Shah Kuh, between Shahrud and Astarabad, have an elevation ex ceeding 13,000 ft. Beyond Khush Yailaq, with an elevation of 10,000 ft., are the Kuh i Buhar (8,000) and Kuh i Suluk (8,000), which latter joins the Ala Dagh (Ii,000).
The northern slopes of the Elburz and the lowlands which lie between them and the Caspian, and together form the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astarabad, are covered with dense forest and traversed by hundreds of perennial rivers and streams. 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 of Amul, Sari and Barfurush in Mazandaran. The inner slopes and ranges of the Elburz south of the principal watershed, generally the central one of the three principal ranges which are outside of the fertilizing influence of the moisture brought from the sea, have little or no natural vege tation, and those farthest south are, excepting for a few stunted cypresses, completely arid and bare.
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. Water is plentiful, and situated in well-watered valleys and gorges are innumerable flourishing villages, with extensive culti vated fields, orchards and pastures, and at higher altitudes small plateaus, under snow until March or April, afford cool camping grounds to the nomads of the plains, and luxuriant grazing to their sheep and cattle during the summer. The Elburz mountains are said to abound in mineral wealth, particularly coal, lead and iron. See L. S. Fortescue, "The Western Elburz and Persian Azerbaijan," Geog. Jour., vol. lxiii., pp. 301-318 (London, 1924).
See F. Navarette, Coleccion de documentos ineditos, t. i. (1842) ; O. Koelliker, Die Erste Erdumseglung etc. (Munich, 1908) ; A. M. Alvarez, Juan Sebastian del Cano (1923).