Beshtau (, from
Turkic ''beş'' 'five' and ''tau'' 'mountain') is an isolated five-domed igneous mountain (
volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
) in the northern vicinity of
Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...
in the
Northern Caucasus.
It gave name to the historical region of (literally "area of five mountains"), the town of Pyatigorsk, and the ethnonym or ''Pyatigortsy'' (''Circassi Quinquemontani'' on old Western European maps).
Its height is . The slopes are forested with
ash,
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
,
hornbeam
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Common names
The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...
, and
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
deciduous forests, and the summit is treeless. Beshtau used to have
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
mines managed by the of the
Ministry of Medium Machine-Building (an euphemism for the Soviet
nuclear industry), which were operating during 1950 – 1988.
By the foothill of the mountain there is the .
See also
*
Mashuk
External links
*
References
{{Reflist
Mountains of Russia
Landforms of Stavropol Krai
Mountains of the Caucasus