Location
Iran is a country in southwestern Asia, located on the eastern side of
the Persian Gulf. It lies at the easternmost edge of the geographic and
cultural region known as the Middle East.
More than half of Iran's international border of 4,430 km is coastline,
including 740 km along the Caspian Sea in the north and 1,700 km along
the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea in the south. Bandar-e-Abbas is the
largest harbor in the south of Iran located on the Strait of Hormoz,
the narrow passage separating the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea through
which tens of oil tankers are heading for various destinations in
different corners of the world everyday.
Seasons
Iran is one of the few countries that have all four distinguished
seasons. And at any time of the year, in each section of the country,
one of the four seasons is visible. Iran's variety in terms of
temperature, humidity and rainfall differs from place to place and
season to season. Length of the seasons differs in different regions.
Natural Regions
One of the world's most mountainous countries, Iran contains two major
ranges of mountains, the Alborz with the highest peak in Asia west of
the Himalayas, Damavand (5671 m above sea level) and the Zagros that
cuts across the country for more than 1,600 km extending from north west
to the south east of the country. The peaks exceeding 2,300 m in these
two ranges capture a considerable amount of moisture coming either from
the Caspian Sea southward or the Mediterranean eastward.
Deserts of Iran
Iran is situated in a high-altitude plateau surrounded by connected
ranges of mountains. The well-known deserts of Iran are at two major
regions: 1) Dasht-e-Kavir, and 2) Kavir-e-Lut. They are both some of
the most arid and maybe hottest areas of their kinds in the world.
The desert Pits of Iran
Kavir-e-Lut is the largest pit inside the Iranian plateau and probably
one of the largest ones in the world. Kavir-e-Lut is a pit formed by
broken layers of the earth.
Mountains of Iran
The whole area of Iran can be divided in to four parts: 1/2 mountains as
one part, and 1/4 deserts and 1/4 fertile plains as the other part.
There are two major ranges of mountains called the Alborz and the
Zagros.
- The Alborz have been extended all the way from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan passing through the southern part of the Caspian Sea.
- The Zagros have covered a region from Azerbaijan to the west and SE of the country.
The highest peak of Iran (Middle East) called "Damavand", 5671m ASL. It
is a burned-out volcano with a crater of 400m width. At times, sulfur
gas ascends to the top and covers the peak like clouds.
Rivers of Iran
There is a vastly extended network of rivers in Iran most of which
seasonally are filled with water. Some permanent rivers run from the
Alborz or the Zagros to the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Some
temporary rivers either run into a body of water or get dried before
reaching any watershed.
Sea, Gulf & Lakes of Iran
Persian Gulf is situated at the south of Iran. It is almost 900km
long from the Strait of Hormoz to Arvand Rud, the border river between
Iran and Iraq. The Persian Gulf is one of the warmest bodies of water in
the entire Middle East.
Oman Sea, situated at the south of Iran, connects the Persian
Gulf to the Indian Ocean. With an approximate area of 903,000 km?, the
Oman Sea is surrounded by Iran and Pakistan at the north, Deccan
peninsula at the east and Arabia peninsula at the west.
Iran has got small ports at its shorelines with the Oman Sea like Chabahar, Gavater and Jask.
Since
antiquity, the Strait of Hormoz and the Oman Sea have always been
strategic waterways. Today, tens of gigantic oil tankers carry oil
everyday from the countries in the region through this route to
different parts of the world.
With an area of approximately 371,000sq.km, Caspian Sea in the
largest body of inland water all over the world, which is situated at
the north of Iran. Its neighboring countries are Iran at the South,
Turkmenistan at the SE, Kazakhstan at the NE and north, Russia at the NW
and Azerbaijan at the SW.
The Iranian shorelines are approximately
992km from the East to the West. The average level of of the Caspian Sea
is 28m below sea level. There are geographic areas born at the Iranian
shorelines because of the changes in the level of the sea, like
Miankaleh Peninsula, Ashuradeh IslandHossein Qolly Bay, Gorgan Bay and
Anzaly Bay.
There are permanent and temporary lakes in Iran depending on the amount
of water in them in different seasons. Such as Uromiyeh Lake, Zaribar
Lake, Hamun Lake, Parishan Lake and Maharlu Lake.