Pontic Mountains are a long range of alpine mountains in northern Turkey, stretching 1000 km along the Black Sea coast. Their elevation gradually increases from west to east, where they border the Lesser Caucasus and where the highest peak Kaçkar (3931 m) is located. In the southeast, they transition into the Armenian Highlands, and in the south, they are separated from the Anatolian Plateau by the North Anatolian Fault.