The highlands, which will be described in this article, are the driest and largest of all the Near Asian. It is framed on all sides by high ridges arranged in several rows, converging in the west and east and forming the Pamir and Armenian knots of crowding.
About where the Iranian Plateau is located, about the features of its relief, about the vegetation and wildlife of these places, as well as other information can be found in this article.
General geological information
Geologically, the Iranian Highlands is one of the parts of the Eurasian Plate that was sandwiched between the Hindustan Plate and the Arabian Platform.
The folded mountains here alternate with plains and hollows intermountain. Depression between the mountains is filled with huge thicknesses of clastic loose material that got there from the mountains surrounding them. The lowest sections of the depressions were once occupied by lakes that had long dried up and left large thicknesses of gypsum and salt.
Geographical location of the Iranian Highlands
Iranian is the largest plateau in strike area in Western Asia. Moreover, most of it is located within Iran, and it enters Afghanistan and Pakistan from the east.
The northern part extends to the south of Turkmenistan, and the southern one captures the border with Iraq. Large open spaces occupies the Iranian highlands. Its coordinates: 12.533333 ° - latitude, 41.385556 ° - longitude.
Landscapes
The described highlands are characterized by the successive alternation of vast mountainous plateaus and lowlands with mountain ranges, a rather dry climate, and the predominance of semi-desert and desert landscapes. The chains of mountains located on the outskirts separate the internal parts of the plateau from the lowlands of the coastal. The latter are also partly part of the region.
These marginal mountain ranges converge in the Armenian Highlands (in the north-west) and in the Pamirs (in the north-east), forming huge mountain nodes. And within the highlands of the chain, the marginal chains are significantly removed from each other, and in the areas between them there are numerous hollows, mountain ranges and plateaus.
The origin of the name of the highlands
The Iranian Highlands is located on a vast territory, the area of which is approximately 2.7 million square meters. kilometers, and its length is from West to East 2500 kilometers, from North to South - 1500 km. Most of it is located on the territory of Iran (occupies about 2/3 of the area), and therefore the highland has this name. The remainder covers parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Its small northern outskirts lie within the limits of the Turkmen-Khorasan mountains (part of Mount Kopetdag), and its western sections lie in Iraq.
Relief
Huge territories are occupied by the Iranian highlands. Its highest point is in its inner regions.
Almost the entire system of the southern marginal areas has characteristic, almost identical features of the relief and structure. The mountains here have approximately the same height (from 1500 to 2500 meters) and only in the central part (Zagros) reach a height of more than 4000 m.
Ranges are parallel chains of mountains composed of folded Cenozoic and Mesozoic rocks, between which there are wide depressions (heights from 1, 500 to 2, 000 meters).
There are also numerous gorges located transversely, but they are so wild and narrow that it is almost impossible to get through them. But there are such transverse through valleys that are wider and more accessible, through which paths pass, connecting the coast and the interior of the highlands between themselves.
The interior of the highlands is clearly bounded by mountain arcs. Elbrus is located in the northern arc along with the volcano Demavend (its height is 5604 m). Also here are the Turkmen-Khorasan mountains (including Kopetdag), Paropamiz, Hindu Kush (the city of Tirichmir with a peak height of 7690 m is the highest peak of the Iranian Highlands).
Some of the many highest peaks of the highlands are formed from extinct or dying volcanoes.
Minerals of the Iranian Highlands
The mineral reserves of the highlands are poorly studied and poorly used, but, apparently, they are very large. The main wealth of the region is oil, considerable reserves of which are concentrated and developed in Iran (south-west). These deposits are confined to the Mesozoic and Miocene deposits of the piedmont deflection (Zagros city). It is also known that hydrocarbon reserves exist in northern Iran, in the low-Caspian lowlands (Iranian region of Azerbaijan).
The Iranian highlands also have coal in their sediments (in the basins of the marginal mountains of the northern part). Deposits of lead, copper, iron, gold, zinc, etc. are known. They are located in the inner areas and in the outlying ranges of the Iranian Highlands, but their development is still insignificant.
Huge and reserves of salts: table, glauber and potash. In the southern part, salt is of Cambrian age and is located in the form of powerful salt domes that extend to the surface. There are salt deposits in many other areas, and they are also deposited along the shores of numerous salt lakes in the central parts of the highlands.
Climatic conditions
Almost entirely, the Iranian highlands lie within the subtropical zone. Its internal parts, as noted above, are surrounded by mountains. This determines the climate of the Iranian Highlands and its features - dryness, high temperatures in summer, and its continental nature.
Most of the precipitation falls within the highlands during the winter and spring periods of time along the polar front, along which air from the Atlantic enters along with cyclones. Due to the fact that the majority of the moisture is intercepted by the ridges, the total mass of precipitation is small in these places.
For example, inland areas (Deshte-Lut, etc.) receive less than 100 mm of precipitation during the year, western mountain slopes - up to 500 mm, and eastern - not more than 300 mm. Only the coast of the Caspian Sea and Elbrus (its northern slope) receive up to 2 thousand mm of precipitation, which is brought by northerly winds from the Caspian Sea in summer. In these places, there is a high humidity, difficult to tolerate even by the local population.
The Iranian highlands have an average July temperature in large areas - within 24 ° C. In lowlands, especially southern, it usually reaches 32 ° C. There are areas where summer temperatures reach 40-50 degrees, which is associated with the formation of tropical air over these areas. Winter is cold in most of the region. Only the South Caspian lowlands (extreme south) have an average January temperature in the range of 11-15 ° C.
Vegetable world
Precipitation volumes, periods and the duration of their precipitation in the highlands determine the characteristics of soils and the natural vegetation growing on them. The Iranian highlands have forests that are common only in some areas on the mountain slopes, on the sides facing the wet winds.
Particularly dense and rich in composition, broad-leaved forests grow on the lowlands of the South Caspian and on the slopes of Elbrus adjacent to it to heights of about 2000 m.
Most of all there are chestnut-leaved oaks and its other species, hornbeam, beech, Caspian glacia, iron ore (South Caspian endemic), and evergreen boxwood. Shrubs (undergrowth) - hawthorn, pomegranate, cherry plum. Climbing plants - wild vineyard, ivy, blackberry and clematis.
Low-lying forests alternate with swampy, overgrown with reeds and sedge. Gardens, citrus plantations, rice fields (in more humid areas) extend near settlements.
On the southern slopes of Zagros grow oak, ash, maple, interspersed with myrtle and pistachios. Pistachio forests and treelike junipers are also found on well-irrigated slopes of the Turkmen-Khorasan mountains, in the Suleymanov and Paropamiz mountains. Above, bushes and beautiful alpine meadows predominate.
Animal world
The Iranian Highlands as part of its fauna has elements of the Mediterranean, as well as neighboring areas: South Asia and Africa.
Some representatives of the Central Asian fauna live in the north. In addition to such inhabitants of the northern forests as roe deer and brown bear, there are also tropic predators - leopards and tigers. Wild boars also live in marshy thickets.
On the inner part of the highlands, on its plains live rams and mountain goats, gazelles, wild cats, various rodents and jackals. In the southern territories mongooses and gazelles are found.
A huge number of birds found their abode in these places, especially in lakeside and riverine thickets and swamps: ducks, geese, flamingos, gulls. And in the forests you can find pheasants, in more open desert areas - jay, hazel grouse and some birds of prey.
