Sabalan ridge of Sabalan. Sabalan Sabalan (Persian: سبلان ), or Savalan (Azerbaijani: Savalan, ساوالان ) is an inactive stratovolcano in the Alborz mountain range and Ardabil Province of northwestern Iran. At in elevation, it is the third highest mountain in Iran. It has a permanent crater lake formed at its summit. On one of its slopes around in elevation there are large rock formations of eroded volcanic outcrops which resemble animals, birds, and insects. Located in the extreme northwest of Iran, Sabalan is the country's third highest peak after Damavand and Alam-Kuh. It is also higher than Mont Blanc in the
Mount Ontake their creative activities. Ontake was thought to be inactive until October 1979, when it underwent a series of explosive phreatic eruptions which ejected 200,000 tons of ash, and had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 2. There were minor non-explosive (VEI 0) phreatic eruptions in 1991 and 2007. On Saturday, September 27, 2014, at around 11:53 a.m. Japan Standard Time (UTC +9), the volcano erupted with a VEI of 3. There were no significant earthquakes that might have warned authorities in the lead up to the phreatic eruption—caused by ground water flashing to steam in a hydrothermal explosion. The Mount