Ararat Plain

broad, flat bottom of the hollow located along the middle course of the Araks River, between the mountain elevations of Ararat in the south and Aragats in the north. Much of the plain is located in the Armenian SSR; a smaller part is in eastern Turkey. It is irrigated by the Araks and its left tributaries, the Sevdzhur (with the Kasakh), Razdan, and others. Its length is 90 km, its elevation between 850 and 1,000 m. Underlying the accumulative plain, which was formed by Anthropogenic deposits, is the Ararat synclinorium. The climate is sharply continental and semidesert. The average January temperature is between -1°C and -6°C, the July temperature between 25°C and 26.5°C. Precipitation is 250–300 mm per year. The landscape of halophytic semidesert and sagebrush on rocky soils at the northern border has been preserved. Sagebrush semidesert with fine soils is plowed. It is an important region of irrigated agriculture (grapes and other crops). The cities of Oktemberian, Echmiadzin, and Yerevan are located in the north of the plain.