Landforms and Resources

Main Ideas • The Southwest Asian

landforms have had a major

impact on movement in

the region.

• The most valuable resources

in Southwest Asia are oil

and water.

Places & TermsGolan Heights

wadi

Tigris River

Euphrates River

Jordan River

Dead Sea

Connect to the Issues

resources Enormous oil

reserves have brought

changes to the economic and

political standing of this region.

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE Artillery shells and sniper fire rained downon the lands below a small plateau in southwestern Syria. Airplanesbombed the military positions on the plateau itself. Families in nearbyvillages huddled in their homes, hoping for the shelling to stop. IsraeliArmy engineers struggled to build a road to enable tanks to reach thetop. Thousands died in the 1967 war when Syria and Israel fought forcontrol of the Golan Heights, also called Al Jawlan, a hilly plateau over-looking the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. This landform’s strate-gic location has made it the site of conflict in Southwest Asia fordecades. It is one of many landforms that divide the region.

Landforms Divide the RegionPeople sometimes picture Southwest Asia as a region of rippling sanddunes and parched land occasionally interrupted with an oasis. But thelands of Southwest Asia actually range from green coastal plains tosnow-peaked mountains. Southwest Asia forms a land bridge connect-ing Asia, Africa, and Europe. As you can see on the map on page 37, theregion is situated at the edge of a huge tectonic plate. Parts of theArabian Peninsula are pulling away from Africa, and parts of theAnatolian Peninsula are sliding past parts of Asia. Still other plates arepushing up mountains in other areas of the Asian continent.

PENINSULAS AND WATERWAYS The most distinctive landform inSouthwest Asia is the Arabian Peninsula, which is separated from thecontinent of Africa by the Red Sea on the southwest and from the rest ofAsia by the Persian Gulf on the east. The Red Sea covers a rift valley cre-ated by the movement of the Arabian plate. The Zagros, Elburz, andTaurus mountains at the north side of the plate cut off part of the regionfrom the south. Another important landform in the region is theAnatolian Peninsula, which is occupiedby the country of Turkey. It marks thebeginning of the Asian continent. (Seethe map on page 479.)

Both peninsulas border on strategicwaterways. On the southwest side of theArabian Peninsula are the Red Sea anda strategic opening to the Mediter-ranean Sea—the Suez Canal. Goodsfrom Asia flow through this canal toports in Europe and North Africa.

SW

AS

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487

PLACE The Golan

Heights are a strategic

location near the source

of water in the region.

How will control ofthis area affect thosewho live on landsbelow the top of theplateau?

30°N

40°N

40°E30°E 50°E

Tropic of Cancer

Casp

i an

Se

a

PersianGulf

Red

Sea

Black Sea

MediterraneanSea

Euphrates

River

TigrisR

iver

Diyal

aR.

KarunR

.

ZAGRO

SM

OUNTAINS

C

RESCENT

ANATOLIA

FERTILE

Syrian

Desert

SYRIA

TURKEY

IRAQ

IRAN

KUWAIT

Mosul Arbil

Basra

Baghdad

0

0 250 500 kilometers

250 500 miles

Lambert Conformal Conic Projection

N

S

EW

The Anatolian Peninsula is located between the Black Sea and theMediterranean Sea. Two narrow waterways, the Bosporus Strait and theDardenelles Strait, are situated at the west end of the peninsula. Bothstraits have always been highly desirable locations for controlling tradeand transportation to Russia and the interior of Asia.

Farther south is a narrow passageway leading from the Arabian Seato the Persian Gulf called the Straits of Hormuz. These straits are theonly waterway to the huge oilfields of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.Because access to oil is essential to the world-wide economy, this water-way is very important.

PLAINS AND HIGHLANDS Much of the Arabian Peninsula is coveredby plains. Because of the dry, sandy, and windy conditions, few activi-ties using the land take place here. Most of the land is barren with somelow hills, ridges, and wadis, which are riverbeds that remain dry exceptduring the rainy seasons. On the southwestern corner of the peninsula,a range of mountains—the Hejaz Mountains—pokes out of the land.People living on the Arabian Peninsula have adapted to the harsh con-ditions by living nomadic lives in search of water.

The heart of Iran is a plateau surrounded by mountains. Isolated andvery high, the land is a stony, salty, and sandy desert. The foothills sur-rounding the plateau are able to produce some crops. Much of theAnatolian Peninsula is also a plateau. Some areas are productive for

agriculture, while other areas sup-port flocks of grazing animals suchas sheep and goats. The NorthernPlain of Afghanistan, a well-wateredagricultural area, is surrounded byhigh mountains that isolate it fromother parts of the region.

MOUNTAINS Rugged mountainsdivide the land and countries. As youstudy the map on page 479, you willsee that the Hindu Kush Mountainsof Afghanistan are linked with otherranges of mountains that framesouthern Asia. Afghanistan is land-locked and mountainous, so contactwith the outside world is difficult.

The Zagros Mountains on thewestern side of Iran help isolate thatcountry from the rest of SouthwestAsia. The Elburz Mountains south ofthe Caspian Sea cut off easy access tothat body of water by Iran. Finally,the Taurus Mountains separateTurkey from the rest of SouthwestAsia. In spite of these physical barri-ers, people, goods, and ideas movethrough the entire region. One of theways they move is by water.

Background

The Persian Gulf

is also called the

Arabian Gulf.

488 CHAPTER 21

MakingComparisons

How are the

plateaus of Iran

and Anatolia

different?

Tigris-Euphrates River Valley Today

SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting MapsPLACE The sources of two rivers are located on which landform?

PLACE Which landforms isolate the Fertile Crescent from other

parts of the region?

Landforms and Resources 489

WATER BODIES Southwest Asia is almost completely surrounded bybodies of water. They provide vital avenues for trade and access to otherparts of the region and to the rest of the world. However, because muchof the region is arid, there are few rivers that flow the entire year. Asyou can see on the map on page 488, two of the most importantrivers—the Tigris and the Euphrates—supported several ancient rivervalley civilizations in an area called the Fertile Crescent. They includedSumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans.

Today, the Tigris and Euphrates flow through parts of Turkey, Syria,and Iraq. The valleys are fertile, well watered, and good for agriculture.The two rivers flow almost parallel to each other for hundreds of milesbefore joining at a place called Shatt al Arab. They spread out into slowmoving water and swamps, finally emptying into the Persian Gulf.

Tumbling down from the mountains of Lebanon near Mt. Hermon,the Jordan River provides one of the most precious resources in theentire region—water. Farther south, the river serves as a natural bound-ary between Israel and Jordan. The Jordan River flows into the saltywaters of the Dead Sea, a landlocked salt lake. The Dead Sea is so saltythat only bacteria can live in the waters. Thousands of years ago theearth was heaved up on the south end of the area now controlled byIsrael. The outlet to the sea was blocked, creating the salt lake. The DeadSea is 1,349 feet below sea level—the lowest place on the exposed crustof the earth. (See The Dead Sea, above.)

Resources for a Modern WorldIt is almost impossible to think about resources in Southwest Asia with-out including oil. It is the region’s most abundant resource. Major oil

Connect to

the Issues

resources

Why is control of

water resources

important in this

region?

SW

AS

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The Dead SeaThe Dead Sea is a landlocked salt

lake, so salty that almost nothing

can live in the water. It has been

described as the world’s largest

spa. (A spa is a place with healing

waters.) For thousands of years,

people have come to the edges of

the landlocked sea to bathe in its

mineral waters and soak in its

black mineral mud.

Imagine floating in water so

salty that you cannot sink. Salt

concentration in the Dead Sea

water is 31.5 percent, nine times

higher than in the world’s oceans.

The evaporation rate of the water

is about 55 inches per year, keep-

ing the water very salty despite

the flow of fresh water from the

Jordan River.

490 CHAPTER 21

HUMAN—ENVIRONMENTINTERACTION Men

work at an oil drilling

compound in the Rub

al-Khali desert.

How will oil drillingchange this area?

fields are located in the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, andIraq, with natural gas fields close by. Since these fossilfuels run cars and trucks, factories, and power plants allover the world, they provide the major portion ofincome for nations with petroleum reserves.

AN OIL-RICH REGION Today, about one-half of theworld’s oil reserves are found in Southwest Asia, alongthe coast of the Persian Gulf, and at offshore drilling sitesin the Gulf itself. The presence of these large reserves hasmade the region important because so many countries,including the United States, depend on its oil.

OTHER RESOURCES The most valuable resource inparts of Southwest Asia is water. In mountainous landssuch as Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, and Afghanistan, water isplentiful compared to the rest of the region. It can beharnessed for hydroelectric power. However, elsewhere,water is a scarce resource that must constantly beguarded and carefully used. Efforts to conserve water

have been a part of the culture of the people living in the region forthousands of years.

Southwest Asia has deposits of other resources such as coal, metallicminerals such as copper, and non-metallic minerals such as potash andphosphates. However, the deposits are scattered and not very large. Iranand Turkey have good-sized deposits of coal. Around the Dead Sea aresignificant reserves of salts such as calcium chloride. However, thesesalt deposits, which are used in manufacturing and chemical processes,have not been heavily developed.

The harsh land and the desert climate that you will learn about in thenext section make life in this region a challenge.

Places & TermsIdentify and explain

where in the region

these would be found.

• Golan Heights

• wadi

• Tigris River

• Euphrates River

• Jordan River

• Dead Sea

Taking Notes LOCATION Review the notes you

took for this section.

• Which waterways are considered

important for trade?

• In which area of the region are

the greatest deposits of oil found?

Landforms

Resources

Main Ideas a. In what ways do landforms

divide the region?

b. Why are the Red Sea and

Suez Canal of strategic

value in the region?

c. How did the presence of

oil in the region change

the region’s importance in

the global economy?

Geographic ThinkingDrawing ConclusionsWhich resource do you

believe is more important in

Southwest Asia—water or oil?

Think about:

• the scarcity of water

• the economic value of oil

See SkillbuilderHandbook, page R5.

MAKING COMPARISONS Study the map on page 483, focusing on energy sources in the

region. Create a map that shows the location of these energy sources. Label each country that

has such sources.

MakingComparisons

Why might

hydroelectric

power be better

to use than oil?