Southwest Asia

Physical Geography

Section 1: Landforms and Resources

1967 Syria and Israel fought over control of the Golan Heights - overlooks Jordan River and Sea of Galilee - strategic landform for water supply

Landforms - range from green coastal plains to snow-peaked mountains - not what people always think

Region is land bridge connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe; mountains are still growing because of tectonic plates - collisions of plates

Peninsulas and waterways Arabian peninsula - separated from Africa by Red Sea and from Asia by Persian

Gulf Anatolian peninsula - part of Turkey, marks beginning of Asian continent Peninsulas are strategic for waterways - Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Red

Sea, Black Sea, Bosporus Strait, Dardenelles Strait, Straits of Hormuz - trade with surrounding regions, transporting oil

Plains and Highlands Arabian peninsula is covered by plains; barren land with wadis (riverbeds dry except for

during wet season); people live nomadic lives Iran is plateau surrounded by mountains - highlands, land is stony, salty, sandy desert;

much of Anatolian peninsula is plateau as well. Mountains Rugged mountains divide the land and countries - create isolation Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan - landlocked and mountainous country - isolation Zagros Mountains - western Iran Elburz Mountains - south of Caspian Sea Taurus Mountains - separate Turkey from rest of Southwest Asia Water Bodies Almost completely surrounded by bodies of water Vital for trade and access to region and rest of world Tigris, Euphrates - Fertile Crescent - flow through Turkey, Syria, Iraq; empty into Persian

Gulf Jordan River - flow from mountains of Lebanon; natural boundary between Israel and

Jordan; flows into salty Dead Sea The Dead Sea is so salty only bacteria can live there; 1,349 feet below sea level - lowest place

on Earth

Resources of region: 1/2 of world’s oil reserves found in Southwest

Asia Valuable resource: water; water is plentiful in

Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Afghanistan, scarce in other places

Coal, metallic, copper, potash, phosphates - scattered and not very large

Section 2: Climate and Vegetation

Arid Lands Southwest Asia extremely arid Most areas less than 18 inches of precipitation a year Most rivers do not flow all year long Irrigation key to produce efficient farmland Also, Mediterranean climate, ranges of mountains and plateaus

Deserts Limit Movement Rub al-Khali - most famous desert - Empty Quarter - place where no one comes out

(size of Texas); summer temperatures - 150 degree F An-Nafud Desert - occasional oasis - vegetation found because of water

(underground springs) Syrian Desert - north from An-Nafud Negev Desert - occupies parts of Israel Salt Deserts - because of rain shadow of mountain ranges; high mountains block

rain, dry winds increase evaporation, chemical salts remain Dasht-e Kavir and the Dasht-e Lut - lands are salt crusted, surrounded by

quick sand-like salt marshes, extremely hot

Semiarid Lands On edges of deserts - semiarid climate -

support grass, shrubs - cotton and wheat can be grown

Good pasture for animals - in Turkey - goats

Coast Lands Mediterranean coast across Turkey = hot

summers and rainy winters; heavily populated areas

Section 3: Human-Environment Interaction

For real, for real: In ‘77 Saudi prince Muhammad ibn Faisal tried to buy icebergs from Antarctica…why? What might this suggest about the needs of the area?

Would you exchange water for oil? Oil is abundant in the region, however, water is not. How does this affect the people, the life, the cultures of this area?

Dams and Irrigation Systems Turkey is building man-made lake on Euphrates River - why might this be

controversial? Israel’s National Water Carrier project carries water from northern part to central

and southern Israel (comes from Golan Heights, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee Drip Irrigation: slowly drips water just above ground to conserve water (reduce

evaporation) Desalinization: removal of salt from ocean water (still may be too salty for irrigation) Fossil water: pumped from underground aquifers Qanat: a system of underground brick-lined tunnels (collects runoff water from

mountains) Noria: waterwheel run by the flow of water or by animal power

Oil: 1/2 of all petroleum reserves in the world; huge for economy Oil and natural gas deposits formed millions of years ago when sea

covered area of Southwest Asia; plants and animals lived and died in waters; remains sank, mingled with mud and sand - formed basis of oil and gas

Oil and natural gas are trapped in rocks - oil must be extracted from layers of rock - not discovered in some parts until 1920s and 30s

Exploration during late 1800s until WWII and then again after WWII Petroleum not processed is called crude oil; must be pumped from

ground to refinery, which converts oil into useful products; pipelines transport crude oil; see processing petroleum on page 498

Placement of pipelines depends on ports and access to worldwide markets; most along Persian Gulf

Risks with transporting oil: oil spills (1991 - largest ever)