1. FEBRUARY 2, 2017
Get out stuff for notes Physical Geography of the Middle East Notes Test Corrections available until Thursday 2/9

2. Middle East? OR Near East? OR Southwest Asia?

3. Mountains & Plateaus Caucasus Mts. Elburz Mts. Anatolian Plateau
Taurus Mts.
Iranian Plateau
Zagros Mts.
Atlas Mts.
Hejaz Mts.

4. Anti-Taurus Mountains
Pontic Mounatins
Elburz Mountains

5. Mountains Zagros Hindu Kush Taurus
Isolate Iran from the rest of the Middle East
Hindu Kush
Isolate the Middle east from Pakistan and India
Taurus
Separate Turkey from the rest of the Middle East

6. Mountain Ranges in Mid-East
Elburz Mts., Iran
Zagros Mts., Iran
Lebanese Mts.
Taurus Mts., Turkey

7. Bodies of Water Caspian Sea Black Sea Dardanelles Strait
Atlantic Ocean
Tigris River
Mediterranean Sea
Euphrates River
Jordan River
Suez Canal
Strait of Hormuz
Persian Gulf
Nile River
Gulf of Oman
Red Sea
Arabian Sea
Gulf of Aden
Indian Ocean

8. Egypt: The “Gift of the Nile”
Nile Delta
Annual Nile Flooding
95% of the Egyptian people live on 5% of the land!

9. Suez Canal Man made Connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea
Completed by the British in 1869

10. Bosporus and Dardanelles
Connects the Mediterranean to the interior of the continent
City of Istanbul
Controls trade and transportation to Russia and the interior of Asia

11. The Tigris & Euphrates River System
Mesopotamia: ”Land Between the Two Rivers”
-Sustained one of the earliest civilizations ever!
-Great for agriculture

12. The Fertile Crescent

13. The Jordan River System
Flows into the Dead Sea
Border between Israel, Jordan, and Syria
Source of water in arid region

14. Dead Sea: Lowest Point on Earth Highest Salt Content (33%)
2,300’ below sea level
Highest Salt Content (33%)
So salty that only bacteria can live here

15. Deserts Negev Desert Sinai Desert Libyan Desert Arabian Desert
Rub al-Khali
Sahara Desert

16. Desert Bedouins

17. Rub al-Khali: - “place where no one comes out” “The Empty Quarter”

18. Rub Al-Khali Road

19. Saudi Arabia’s Geographic Challenges

20. Desert Oases: Water at a Premium!
An area where vegetation is found because water is available

21. Fresh Groundwater Sources

22. Providing Water
Many countries are creating dams, man-made lakes, and irrigation systems.
Alters flow of rivers, floods up river side

23. Desalinization Plants
Desalinization = removal of salt from ocean water
Still relatively salty so it is used for sewage systems

24. Desalination in Israel

25. Middle East: Climate Regions

26. Middle East: Population Density

27. Cairo, Egypt: Most Populated City in the Middle East
17,000,000+ People!

28. The Middle East: Natural Vegetation

29. The Natural Resources of the Middle East

30. Resources Oil is most important resources
Millions of years ago microscopic plants and animals lived and died in the waters. Their remains sank into the sand, and over time it turns into hydrocarbons
Requires sophisticated equipment to extract and refine
How oil is formed:
Resources

31. Oil Continued….
Petroleum that has not been processed is called CRUDE OIL
Must be sent through a refinery (convert it into useful products)
Increasing demand due to industrialization

32. Risk of Transporting Oil
Oil spills
Cause pollution
More dangerous to transport oil in water

33. World Oil Reserves

34. Persian Gulf Oil Exports (2003)

35. Saudi Oil Fields & Refineries

36. Kuwait: An Island Floating on a Sea of Oil
Kuwait City

37. Leading U. S. Oil Suppliers
The U. S. imports 30% of its oil needs from the Middle East.

38. Critical Thinking Questions
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of oil. Oil revenues make up percent of the export earnings and around 35-40% of their GDP. The United States imported an average of 1.15 million barrels of crude oil per day from Saudi Arabia.
Q1: Do you think the United States should protect Saudi Arabia in time of war in order to protect US oil interests?
Q2: If more resources were devoted to alternative energy sources, such as wind or solar power, what might happen to Saudi Arabia’s economy? What would they need to do in order to maintain their economy?