Iranian plateau
Encyclopedia
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
wedged between the Arabian
Arabian Plate
The Arabian Plate is one of three tectonic plates which have been moving northward over millions of years and colliding with the Eurasian Plate...
and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
to the west, the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
and the Kopet Dag
Kopet Dag
The Kopet Dag, Kopet Dagh, or Koppeh Dagh , also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range is a mountain range on the frontier between Turkmenistan and Iran, extending about 650 km along the border, east of the Caspian Sea. The highest peak of the range in Turkmenistan is southwest of the...
to the north, the Hormuz Strait and Persian gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
to the south and the Indus River
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
to the east in Pakistan.
As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...
and eastern Persia, the heartlands of Greater Iran
Greater Iran
Greater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...
(mainly Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
).
The Zagros mountains
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
form the plateau's western boundary, and its eastern slopes may be included in the term. The Encyclopedia Britannica excludes "lowland Khuzestan" explicitly and characterizes Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
as spanning "the region from the Mesopotamian plain to the Iranian Plateau".
From the Caspian in the northwest to Baluchistan in the south-east, the Iranian Plateau extends for close to 2,000 km. It encompasses the greater part of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, on an area roughly outlined by the quadrangle formed by the cities of Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
, Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
, Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
and Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
containing some 3700000 square kilometres (1,428,578 sq mi). In spite of being called a "plateau", it is far from flat but contains several mountain ranges, the highest peak being Damavand
Damavand
Damavand is a city in and the capital of Damavand County, Tehran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 36,433, in 10,279 families....
in the Alborz
Alborz
Alborz , also written as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the northwest to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan...
at 5610 m, and the Lut basin east of Kerman
Kerman
- Geological characteristics :For the Iranian paleontologists, Kerman has always been considered a fossil paradise. Finding new dinosaur footprints in 2005 has now revealed new hopes for paleontologists to better understand the history of this area.- Economy :...
in Central Iran falling below 300 m.
Geology
In geology, the plateau region of IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
primarily formed of the accretionary
Accretion (geology)
Accretion is a process by which material is added to a tectonic plate or a landmass. This material may be sediment, volcanic arcs, seamounts or other igneous features.-Description:...
Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
n terrane
Terrane
A terrane in geology is short-hand term for a tectonostratigraphic terrane, which is a fragment of crustal material formed on, or broken off from, one tectonic plate and accreted or "sutured" to crust lying on another plate...
s between the Turan platform
Platform (geology)
In geology, a platform is a continental area covered by relatively flat or gently tilted, mainly sedimentary strata, which overlie a basement of consolidated igneous or metamorphic rocks of an earlier deformation...
to the north and the Main Zagros Thrust, the suture zone between the northward moving Arabian plate
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
and the Eurasian continent, is called the Iranian plateau. It is a geologically well-studied area because of general interest in continental collision zones, and because of Iran's long history of research in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, particularly in economic geology
Economic geology
Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be used for economic and/or industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals, construction-grade stone, petroleum minerals, coal, and water. The term commonly refers to metallic mineral deposits...
(although Iran's major petroleum reserves are not in the plateau).
Geography
The Persian plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
in geology refers to a geographical area north of the great folded mountain belts resulting from the collision of the Arabian plate
Arabian Plate
The Arabian Plate is one of three tectonic plates which have been moving northward over millions of years and colliding with the Eurasian Plate...
with the Eurasian plate
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
. In this definition, the Iranian plateau does not cover southwestern Iran.
It extends from East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
(Persia) to southern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. It also includes smaller parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
.
Its mountain ranges can be divided into five major sub-regions:
Northwestern Iranian Plateau where the Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
and Taurus mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
converage, is rugged country with higher elevations, a more severe climate, and greater precipitation than are found on the Anatolian Plateau. The region is known as the Anti-Taurus, and the average elevation of its peaks exceeds 3,000 m. Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
, at 5,137 meters (16,854 ft) the highest point in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, is located in the Anti-Taurus. Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
is situated in the mountains at an elevation of 1,546 meters (5,072 ft).
The headwaters of three major rivers arise in the Anti-Taurus: the east-flowing Aras River, which empties into the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
; the south-flowing Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
and Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
join in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
before emptying into the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
. Several small streams that empty into the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
or landlocked Lake Van also originate in these mountains.
Southeast Anatolia lies south of the Anti-Taurus Mountains. It is a region of rolling hills and a broad plateau surface that extends into Syria. Elevations decrease gradually, from about 800 meters (2,600 ft) in the north to about 500 meters (1,600 ft) in the south. Traditionally, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
are the main crops of the region.
Mountain ranges
- Northwest Iran Ranges
- SabalanSabalanSabalan is an inactive stratovolcano in Ardabil province of northwestern Iran. It is the third highest mountain in Iran with a permanent crater lake formed at its summit. Sabalan has a ski resort and different tourist areas such as the Sarein spa...
4811 m (15,784.1 ft)
- Sabalan
- AlborzAlborzAlborz , also written as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the northwest to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan...
- DamavandDamavandDamavand is a city in and the capital of Damavand County, Tehran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 36,433, in 10,279 families....
5610 m (18,405.5 ft)
- Damavand
- Central Iranian Plateau
- Kūh-e Hazār 4500 m (14,763.8 ft)
- Kuh-e Jebal Barez
- Eastern Iranian Ranges
- Kopet DagKopet DagThe Kopet Dag, Kopet Dagh, or Koppeh Dagh , also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range is a mountain range on the frontier between Turkmenistan and Iran, extending about 650 km along the border, east of the Caspian Sea. The highest peak of the range in Turkmenistan is southwest of the...
- Kuh-e Siah Khvani 3314 m (10,872.7 ft) 36°17′N 59°3′E
- Eshdeger Range
- 2920 m (9,580.1 ft) 33°32′N 57°14′E
- Kopet Dag
- Western Pakistan
- Sulaiman MountainsSulaiman MountainsThe Sulaiman Mountains are a major geological feature of southeastern Afghanistan and northern Balochistan province of Pakistan. In Pakistan, it forms the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau where the Indus River separates it from the Asian Subcontient...
- BalochistanBalochistanBalochistan or Baluchistan is a region which covers parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:...
- SikaramMount SikaramMount Sikaram is a mountain in the Spin Ghar range on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border south of the Kabul River and Khyber Pass. At , it is the highest peak of the Spin Ghar.-See also:* Hindukush* Mountain ranges of Pakistan* List of Mountains in Pakistan...
4755 m (15,600.4 ft) 34°2′N 69°54′E - Kuh-e TaftanTaftan volcanoTaftan is an active stratovolcano in southeastern Iran situated in the Sistan and Baluchestan province. At nearly 4,000 meters above sea level, it is the highest mountain in southeastern Iran. The nearest city is Khash...
3941 m (12,929.8 ft) 28°36′N 61°8′E - Zargun 3578 m (11,738.8 ft) 30°16′N 67°18′E
- Sikaram
Rivers and plains
- Indus RiverIndus RiverThe Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
- Kavir Desert
- Lut Desert
- Hamun-e Jaz MurianHamun-e Jaz MurianHamun-e Jaz Murian is an inland basin or depression in southeast Iran, straddling the provinces of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan. At the center of the basin is a "seasonal lake," or hamun. The lake can remain almost totally dry during dry years, while in wetter years it can have water year...
- Halil RiverHalil RiverHalīl River is a river stretching for some 390 km running in the Jiroft and Kahnuj districts of Kerman Province, Iran. It rises at 3,300 m, in the Hazar mountains about 100 km to the north-west of Jiroft, flowing to the south-west until it is joined by the Rudar and Rabar rivers...
- Halil River
- GavkhouniGavkhouniGavkhouni also written as Gavkhuni or Batlaq-e-Gavkhuni, located in central Iran, east of city of Esfahan, is the terminal basin of the Zayandeh River. Gavkhouni is a salt marsh with a salinity of 315‰ and an average depth of about 1 m. The salt marsh can dry up in summer...
- Zayandeh River
- Sistan BasinSistan BasinThe Sistan Basin is an inland endorheic basin encompassing large parts of southwestern Afghanistan and southeastern Iran, one of the driest regions in the world and an area subjected to prolonged droughts...
- Helmand RiverHelmand RiverThe Helmand River is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primarily watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin....
- Farah RiverFarah RiverThe Farah River is a river in western Afghanistan. The river originates in the Band-e Bayan Range, and flows for 560 km to the Helmand swamps on the Afghanistan-Iran border. The town of Farah is located on the river....
- Helmand River
History
In the Bronze Age, ElamElam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
stretched across the Zagros mountains, connecting Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
and the Iranian Plateau. The kingdoms of Aratta
Aratta
Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list.-Role in Sumerian literature:Aratta is described as follows in Sumerian literature:...
known from cuneiform sources may have been located in the Central Iranian Plateau.
In classical antquity the region was known as Persia, due to the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, originating in Persia proper, or Fars.
The Middle Persian Erān (whence Modern Persian Irān
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
) began to be used in reference to the state (rather than as an ethnic designator) from the Sassanid period (see Etymology of Iran
Etymology of Iran
The name of Iran derives immediately from Middle Persian Ērān, Pahlavi ʼyrʼn, first attested in this form in the inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam...
).
Archaeology
Archaeological sites and cultures of the Iranian plateau include:- Central Iranian Plateau ("Jiroft culture")
- Shahr-i SokhtaShahr-i SokhtaShahr-e Sūkhté , also spelled as Shahr-e Sukhteh and Shahr-i Shōkhta, is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Jiroft culture. It is located in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, the southeastern part of Iran, on the bank of the Helmand River, near the...
- Konar SandalKonar SandalKonar Sandal is a Bronze Age archaeological site, situated just south of Jiroft, Kermān Province, Iran.It consists of two mounds a few kilometers apart, called Konar Sandal A and B with a height of 13 and 21 meters, respectively...
- Tepe YahyaTepe YahyaTepe Yahya is an archaeological site in Kermān Province, Iran, some 220 km south of Kerman city, 90 km south of Baft city and 90 km south-west of Jiroft.-History:Habitation spans the 6th to 2nd millennia BCE and the 10th to 4th centuries BCE....
- Shahr-i Sokhta
- Zayandeh River Civilization
- Tappeh Sialk
- Paleolithic sites
- NiasarNiasarNeyasar is a city in and the capital of Neyasar District, in Kashan County, Isfahan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 2,003, in 586 families.It is famous for its historical buildings from the Sassanid period....
- Sefid-AbSefid-AbSefid-Ab is an archeological site in central Iran and is the first known evidence for Upper Paleolithic occupation of that region.The site is associated with an old spring which was an important water source for Upper Paleolithic people in the dry region of Kashan during the late Pleistocene...
- Kaftar Khoun
- Qaleh Bozi Caves
- MirakMirakMirak may refer to:*Mirak , a race of beings in Star Fleet Universe*Mirak, Armenia, a town in Armenia*Mirək, a village in Azerbaijan*Epsilon Boötis, a star also called Mirak...
- Delazian
- TabasTabasTabas is a city in and capital of Tabas County, Yazd Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 30,681, in 7,962 families.Tabas is located in central Iran, 950 kilometers southeast of Tehran, in Yazd Province. Formerly it was part of the Khorasan province. It is a desert city with...
- Masileh
- Niasar