# Geologically speaking what mountain formation surrounds Jerusalem
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 6, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450 "2022-11-06T01:58:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/1 "2022-11-06T01:58:30Z")
What are the names of the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. This is not a question about it’s seven hills.
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### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/2 "2022-11-06T02:00:37Z")
I’m interested in the geological formation surrounding Jerusalem and the names geologists give to the mountains ( not hills ) surrounding them.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/3 "2022-11-06T02:11:56Z")
The Judean Mountains or Judean Hills. For the names of the specific mountain tops just google it.
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/4 "2022-11-06T06:30:27Z")
the range is called the Judean Mountains at that point, but for historic reasons the range to the north of Jerusalem is called the Samarian Mountains.
Geologically speaking ?
" The folding is the central expression of the Syrian Arc belt of folding".
The folding and uplift is due to the African plate pushing into the Arabian plate…
The Sinai and Israel and West Bank of the Jordan river is actually on the African plate.
There is a matching range on the east bank of the Jordan River/Jordan rift valley ? also part of the syrian arc…
Since the mountains formed, Africa and Arabia have changed their relative motions… they are splitting apart and so the rift valley is formed inside the Syrian arc… the rift valley is highlighted by the Jordan River… its why the Dead Sea is down so low… the land is falling in the rift…
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/5 "2022-11-06T09:36:14Z")
> [@Octagon](#):
>
> What are the names of the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. This is not a question about it’s seven hills.
I’m pretty sure that it’s Rome that has seven hills, not Jerusalem.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/6 "2022-11-06T14:17:20Z")
_Geology_ isn’t really the relevant discipline when it comes to the names of mountains. That’s geo_graphy_.
_Geologically_, they’re mostly limestones and dolomites of late Cretaceous age that were mostly uplifted in the Miocene.
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### Author:  [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/7 "2022-11-06T14:31:00Z")
Jerusalem too. And Meqqah also apparently. Either there is something special for the cities linked to an Abramaic religion; either someone tought " 7 is a sacred number, we need to find seven hills!"
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2022, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/8 "2022-11-07T05:51:08Z")
There are [dozens of cities around the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_claimed_to_be_built_on_seven_hills) that have been claimed to be built on “seven hills”. Most actually have more than seven, but people apparently think seven is a cool number. San Francisco is one that’s been said to be on seven hills, even though there are [actually over 40](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hills_in_San_Francisco).
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/9 "2022-11-07T18:08:28Z")
Same reason why there are seven wonders of the world, or seven seas, or seven dwarfs. Seven has long been considered a mystical number.
(Note, though, that this is not the reason why we have seven days in a week - that’s because seven days is the time between two subsections lunar phases.)
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/10 "2022-11-07T18:17:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> _Geologically_, they’re mostly limestones and dolomites of late Cretaceous age that were mostly uplifted in the Miocene.
In English…
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/11 "2022-11-07T19:53:36Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> In English…
They’re mostly sedimentary facies composed of one of two 2 polymorphs of CaCO3 or one dominant polymorph of CaMg(CO3)2, deposited between 100.5–66 Ma during the Neotethys closure and orogenically activated 23-16 Ma.
Clearer?
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/12 "2022-11-07T20:00:32Z")
Yes. 😀
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### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/13 "2022-11-08T01:57:45Z")
Mount of Olives
(been there, done that)
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/14 "2022-11-08T02:32:38Z")
> [@Ignatz](#):
>
> Mount of Olives
In addition to that one, there’s at least a dozen mountains named in the Bible:
Ararat
Carmel
Gerizim
Hermon
Horeb
Moriah
Nebo
Olivet
Pisgah
Sinai
Tabor
Zion
Besides Mount of Olives, I think only Zion and Moriah are in Jerusalem (could be wrong about this). All those in my list except Gerizim have somewhere in the US named for them.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2022, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/15 "2022-11-08T09:24:42Z")
> [@FrenchDunadan](#):
>
> Jerusalem too. And Meqqah also apparently. Either there is something special for the cities linked to an Abramaic religion; either someone tought " 7 is a sacred number, we need to find seven hills!"
Interesting - while the number seven is huge in Judaism, as far as I can tell the seven hills thing is not a Jewish tradition (I searched for “seven hills/mountains of Jerusalem” in Hebrew and got zero results).
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### Author:  [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2022, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geologically-speaking-what-mountain-formation-surrounds-jerusalem/974450/16 "2022-11-10T07:23:23Z")
Thanks MrDibble.