| Geography and Climate |
Armenia is a lanlocked country, located in Southwestern Asia, east of Turkey. Area is comparatively slightly smaller than Maryland. Total land boundary is 1,254 km, border countries are Azerbaijan-proper 566 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 221 km, Georgia 164 km, Iran 35 km, Turkey 268 km. The climate in the country's highland continental has hot summers and cold winters. Terrain consists of high Armenian Plateau with mountains; little forest land; fast flowing rivers; good soil in Aras River valley. The elevation extreme has lowest point in Debed River 400 m and highest point in Aragats Lerr 4,095 m. Armenian natural resources are small deposits of gold, copper, molybdenum, zinc, alumina. Land use: arable land: 17%, permanent crops: 3%, permanent pastures: 24%, forests and woodland: 15%, other: 41% (1993 est.). Natural hazards: occasionally severe earthquakes; droughts.
Environment—current issues: soil pollution from toxic chemicals such as DDT; energy blockade, the result of conflict with Azerbaijan, has led to deforestation when citizens scavenged for firewood; pollution of Hrazdan (Razdan) and Aras Rivers; the draining of Sevana Lich (Lake Sevan), a result of its use as a source for hydropower, threatens drinking water supplies; restart of Metsamor nuclear power plant without adequate (IAEA-recommended) safety and backup systems.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |