Pickaxe Mountain and Zagros Mountains

About Pickaxe Mountain

• Location: Pickaxe Mountain is a mountain in the Zagros Mountain Range located in Isfahan Province, Iran.
• It is also known as “Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La” in Iran.
• Key Aspects:
  • Underground Nuclear Facility: Pickaxe Mountain contains a fortified underground facility that is believed to be located more than 100 m beneath hard granite.
    • Purpose: It is being built for the production and assembly of advanced centrifuges.
    • Infrastructure: The facility has two pairs of tunnel entrances and a completed security wall.
  • Strategic Importance: The mountain’s hard granite structure provides strong natural protection, making the underground facility difficult for bunker buster bombs to destroy

About Zagros Mountains

• Location: The Zagros Mountains extend from the border areas of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq across Iran to the Strait of Hormuz.
  • The range forms the western boundary of the Iranian Plateau.
• Extent: The mountain range extends for about 1,600 km and is more than 240 km wide.
• Formation: The range was formed by the collision of the African Plate with the Eurasian Plate, creating a belt of folded mountains.
• Geology: The oldest rocks in the range date back to the Precambrian Period.
  • While limestone and shale from the Mesozoic Era and Paleogene Period are the most common rock types.
• Highest Peak: Mount Dena is the highest peak.
• Drainage: The western slopes are drained by perennial rivers.
• Flora: The mountains are dominated by Persian oak forests, along with Aleppo oak, Lebanon oak, pistachio, almond, hawthorn, nettle tree, and pear.
• Fauna: Important wildlife includes the Persian leopard, Syrian brown bear, bezoar ibex, striped hyena, and Persian squirrel.