Arabia

The Arabian peninsula is ringed by mountains along the western and southern side. The first ranges trending north-south, parallel to the Mediterranean coast, commence in Lebanon (Plate 8). They are aligned on either side of the rift valley as far south as the Gulf of Aqaba. In Lebanon, the highest point is Qurnot-as-Sawda (3,086m) in the western range, while the Lebanon-Syria boundary is marked by another range, Anti-Lebanon, further east. The western range, approaching an elevation of 3,000 m, is the highest in the area. Its eastern slope drops sharply into the fault valley of Bekka. The eastern ranges are the Anti-Lebanon (c. 2,100m) in the north and Herman (c. 2,800m) to the south. Towards the south, these ranges confine the River Jordan and the Dead Sea across Israel and Jordan. They are composed of largely massive beds of folded limestone with rugged relief. The western side of the ranges has a Mediterranean climate favourable for orchards, vineyards, and winter crops. Precipitation decreases from north to south. Like the area's compartmentalisation into mountain ranges and structural valleys, the economy is a contrast of intensive horticulture westwards and nomadic herding in the arid east.

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8. Desert ranges, Lebanon. Snow ranges of Lebanon steeply sloping towards the fault valley of Bekka. The low ranges to the right are Herman (lower) and Ani-Lebanon (upper) traversed by a river.

The nomads include various Bedouin tribes with flocks of sheep, goats, and camels. In Saudi Arabia, the western highlands form a rocky upland carved from ancient crystalline complex. They form a linear plateau capped by mountains with scarp face towards the Red Sea. The rugged topography is the making of diastrophism, vulcanism, and mass wasting. Their elevation varies from 900m in the north to 3,700m in the south. The range reaches its maximum elevation in Yemen, on Jabal an-Nabi (3,760m), west of Sana. The range then makes a sharp, north-easterly turn through Hadhramaut to Dhufar in South Oman. Despite their proximity to a vast desert, the highlands receive some rain. Precipitation varies from about 130 mm during winter in Arabia to over 1,000 mm during summer in Yemen. Jabal Akhdar (Green Mountain) is at the eastern end of the Arabian peninsula beyond the depression of Rab-al-Khali (Empty Quarter). Structurally, these uplands in Oman are an extension of the fold mountains of Zagros in Iran. The main range is fairly high with Jabal-ask-Sham (3,035m) as the pinnacle. Despite topographic features of upthrusts and graben-like depressions due to faulting, much of it has plateau-like topography and is cut off from all sides, by either sand or water. The highlands of Yemen and Hadhramaut have terrace cultivation facilitated by heavy precipitation. They grow sub-tropical fruits and cereals such as wheat and barley. Elsewhere, nomadic tribes with sheep and goats shift seasonably to find pastures. With the expansion of the petroleum economy, tribal warfare and pillaging of oases by the Bedouin have become a thing of the past.