Physical Features of Southwest Asia
Landforms
Climate
Natural Resources
Plateau and Peninsula's
Desserts
Arabian Peninsula consists of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and several other countries. Its a vast plateau that slopes gently from the southwest to the northwest.
The plain covers most of Iraq as well as eastern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
A vast plateau, covering much of Iran, is encircled by high mountain ranges... Anatolian Plateau spreads across central and western Turkey.
The alluvial plain covers most of Iraq as well as eastern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
The Arabian Desert, is the largest dessert in the region and one of the largest desserts in the world. It is made up of rocky plateaus, gravel-covered plains, salt-crusted flats, flows of black lava, and sand seas, which are unbroken expanses of sand. The Arabian Desert is a harsh environment, but plants thrive in oases.
In the Rub' al-Khali, or Empty Quarter, the climate is so dry that this starkly beautiful wilderness cannot support permanent human settlements.
The few people who live in the desserts, called the Bedouin, they keep herds of camels, horses, and sheep.
Mountains
-The Khyber Pass, which is a pass on the Hindu Kusch mountain, links the cities of Kabul, Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan.
-The Hindu Kush mountain range, stretches across much of Afghanistan and along Afghanistan’s it border with the South Asian country of Pakistan.
The Hindu Kusch and neighboring ranges form natural barriers to travel and trade.
In the Mediterranean, mild temperatures and moderate amounts of rainfall during the winter months. In summer the climate is mild and dry.
In the mountains of turkey temperatures vary greatly between summer and winter
Temperatures in the Arabian Desert can soar as high as 129°F (54°C).
The mountains of the Hindu Kush range in far eastern Afghanistan fall within a highland climate zone, and glaciers are found among the soaring peaks.
Crude oil is refined to produce energy
gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and industrial fuel oil.
Oil and natural gas.
Petroleum is used to make plastics, bicycle tires, and cloth fibers.
Bodies of Water
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen border the long, narrow Red Sea. The Red Sea has been one of the world’s busiest waterways
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel have coasts on the Mediterranean Sea.
Tigris and the Euphrates rivers start in eastern turkey. The rivers flow parrell together, they flow across the alluvial plain.
The Dead Sea, which lies between Israel and Jordan, is also landlocked. It is far smaller than the region’s other seas. Its the world’s lowest body of water,
Turkey has coasts on the Mediterranean and Black Seas
Eight of Southwest Asia’s 15 countries border the Persian Gulf
Iran also borders the landlocked Caspian Sea
Yemen and its neighbor Oman boarder the Arabian Sea.
Phosphates, are used to make fertilizers.
Iron, copper, gold, cobalt, lithium.
Vocabulary terms.
Alluvial plain
Oasis
Wadis
Semiarid
vary