|
|
ChromaDepth
Section I: A Tour of Planet Earth
|
The Middle East
Description: This shows the Middle East, from Italy on the northwest to India on the southeast.
Things to Notice:
- The Mediterranean Sea is long and thin and bounded by mountains on the north
- The Red Sea is long and thin with high edges, especially on the eastern (Saudi Arabian side) shore.
- The mountains are in the middle of the continents in much of the area, rather than being on the edge of the continent.
- The mountains are in a belt, and record the closing of an enormous sea called the Tethys, which once separated two supercontinents,
Gondwanaland and Laurasia. Mountains are like the bumpers of two cars, or many cars that have collided with each other and are now
stuck together. Open space that was once in between has disappeared.
- The Mediterranean is, in part, a remnant of this old ocean, as are the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Small isolated oceans are all that
are left of a once enormous ocean.
- Rocks that record this former ocean are found within the mountain belts, so they contain an incredible richness of different rock types.
- The Red Sea is opening as the crust rifts apart. Hot crust goes up like a balloon and cold crust comes down, so the eastern edge of Saudi
Arabia is down. Saudi Arabia is like one big tilted slab of solid rock (old and strong) that is tipped down under Iran and the Zagros Mountains.
- The opening of the Red Sea moves Saudi Arabia relatively to the east and beneath Iran, so the Zagros Mountains are forming by convergence as the Red
Sea is forming by extension. The Red Sea is like two elevator doors moving apart. The amount that it is opened up is taken up on the edges by convergence
on the side, although just on the Saudi Arabian side.
- The Persian Gulf is the low area just before the Saudi Arabian plate goes beneath Iran and the Zagros Mountains.
- The Black Sea is deep. The Caspian Sea is very shallow, especially the northern part.
Go back to Section I here
Go back to ChromaDepth main page here |
|
|
