Armenia lies within the Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt, in the zone where the Arabian Plate pushes northward into the Eurasian Plate. This continental collision has crumpled the crust into the mountains of the Lesser Caucasus and created a network of active faults that make the country highly earthquake-prone.
The 1988 Spitak earthquake, magnitude 6.8, was one of the region's worst disasters, killing tens of thousands and devastating cities in the north. Armenia is also dotted with dormant volcanoes such as Mount Aragats, the country's highest peak, remnants of past volcanism tied to the same tectonic squeeze that shapes the Armenian Highlands.