Peninsulas

Peninsulas

• Peninsulas

• Arabian
• Anatolian

Red Sea

• Red Sea

• Part of Rift Valley

• Suez Canal

• Access to Mediterranean and Europe from Asia

• Bosporus and Dardanelles

• Control access from Russia, Danube, to Mediterranean

• Straits of Hormuz

• Control access from Persian Gulf to ocean

• Bab al Mandeb

Arabian peninsula

• Arabian peninsula

• Dry, sandy

• Plateau of Iran

• Stony, salty, sandy desert

• Anatolian Plateau

• Agriculture, grazing lands

• Northern Plain of Afghanistan –Bamyan valley

• Isolated, agricultural lands

• Hejaz Mtns, western Arabian peninsula

Hindu Kush

• Hindu Kush

• Zagros Mtns

• Elburz Mtns

• Taurus Mtns

• Atlas Mtns

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

• Mesopotamia, or the Fertile Crescent

• Jordan River

• Nile River

• World’s Longest
• More than 95% of Egyptians depend on it for water

• Dead Sea

• Lowest elevation -1,349 ft below sea level
• Salty water, landlocked

Rub al Khali

• Rub al Khali

• Largest expanse of sand in the world
• Size of Texas

• Al Nafud

• Syrian Desert

• Negev

In Iran

• In Iran

• Salt flats
• Dasht-e Kavir
• Dasht-e Lut

Sahara Desert

• Sahara Desert

• 20% sand, rest is mountains, rock formations & gravelly plains
• Stores of underground water – Aquifers
• Water that has come to the surface - Oasis

Semiarid

• Semiarid

• On edge of deserts
• Good pasture
• Some crops grown in wet years

Jubail desalination plant in Saudi Arabia

• Jubail desalination plant in Saudi Arabia

• largest in the world
• 800 million gallons per day
• generating 5,000 megawatts of power