Geography of The Middle East & North Africa: Mountain Ranges

Mountains form the natural barriers which contain peoples within an area and restrict movement

Mountains are a place of refuge and shelter for many ethnic groups

Mountains are a source of water through which river systems develop

Mountains are a source of divine inspiration and revelation

Mount Sinai Moses and the Ten Commandments

Jabal an-Nour Mohammad and the first revelation

Mountain Ranges:
The Atlas Mountains & The Rif The Pontics The Taurus Mountains The Elburz & Zagros Mountains Mount Lebanon & The Anti-Lebanon Mountains

The Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountain Range

The Atlas Mountains is a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500km through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.

The Atlas Mountains is rich in natural resources especially iron ore, lead ore, copper, silver, mercury, rock salt, marble, coal and gas.

The Atlas Mountain Range

Middle Atlas, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas Saharan Atlas Tell Atlas Aurs Mountains

The Atlas Mountains

The Middle Atlas

The Atlas Mountains

The Middle Atlas

The Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying completely in Morocco. It is the westernmost of the three Atlas Mountain chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward into Algeria.

The Atlas Mountains

It is a solid mountainous mass of 350km in length. The Atlas high points are Jbel Bou Naceur (3340m), then Jbel Jbel Mousker (3277 m), in the North, and finally Jbel Bou Iblane (3172 m).

The Middle Atlas

Snow can be seen here during the winter months and a cool climate during the summer. Over the mountain slopes, extensive forests of cedar are intersected by deep valleys.

The Atlas Mountains

The Middle Atlas

Bordered by the rich Plaine du Sas and the cities of Fes, Meknes and Beni Mellal, the mountainous reaches of the Middle Atlas are the stronghold of Berber tribes, speaking Tamazight and living at very low population densities.

The Atlas Mountains

The High Atlas

The Atlas Mountains

The High Atlas

The High Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range in central Morocco. The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the MoroccoAlgerian border.

The Atlas Mountains

The range includes Jbel Toubkal (4167m), which is the highest mountain in the Atlas and lies in the Toubkal National Park.

The High Atlas

It serves as a weather system barrier running east-west and separating the Saharas climatic influences, which are particularly pronounced in the summer, from the more Mediterranean climate to the north. Snow falls in the higher elevations and lasts well into spring, mostly on the north faces of the range.

The Atlas Mountains

The High Atlas forms the basins for a multiplicity of river systems, providing the basis for settlements here. A number of wadi and seasonal rivers terminate in the deserts.

The High Atlas

Nomadic Berbers have inhabited especially around Jbel Ayachi (3747m). the mountain

The Atlas Mountains

The High Atlas

At the foot of the High Atlas is the fortified Berber city of At Benhaddou, along the caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech.

The Anti-Atlas/ Lesser Atlas

The Atlas Mountains

The Anti-Atlas/ Lesser Atlas

The Anti-Atlas is one of the mountain ranges lying completely in Morocco. It extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest, towards the northeast, to the heights of Oarzazate. In the south the range borders the Sahara.

The Atlas Mountains

The summits of the Anti-Atlas reach heights of 25002700 m, with a few peaks higher. To the north lies the plateau 1700-1800m in height.

The Anti-Atlas/ Lesser Atlas

To the south lie the Sahara highlands at approximately 700m. One peak, Djebel Siroua, of volcanic origin, reaches 3304m.

The Anti-Atlas are separated by the High Atlas, to the north, from the Mediterraneans influence and belong to the Sahara climate zone.

The Atlas Mountains

The Anti-Atlas/ Lesser Atlas

The Anti-Atlas are inhabited by the Chleuh Berber. The centre is the city of Tafraoute.

Kasbah are found in many places in the region, including the older parts of Agadir. In former times, the kasbah was important as a place of shelter .

The Atlas Mountains

The Saharan Atlas

The Atlas Mountains

The Saharan Atlas

The Saharan Atlas forms the eastern part of the Atlas Mountains and lies in Algeria. The Saharan Atlas and the Tell Atlas merge in the east to join together into the Tbessa and Medjerda mountains. The Saharan Atlas is one of the vast plateaus of Africa, formed of ancient base rock covered by sediments of shallow seas and alluvial deposits. It marks the northern edge of the Sahara Desert. The mountains see some rainfall and are better suited to agriculture than the plateau to the north.

The Atlas Mountains

The Saharan Atlas

The tallest peak is Djebel Aissa (2236m). The Saharan Atlas feeds wadis, riverbeds but only during the wet period. Most of the population of the region are Chaoui Berbers. The mountains have been a home to exiles expelled from the fertile coastal regions.

The Atlas Mountains

The Tell Atlas

The Atlas Mountains

The Tell Atlas

The Tell Atlas is a mountain chain over 1500 km in length, belonging to the Atlas Mountain ranges from Morocco, through Algeria to Tunisia.

It parallels the Mediterranean coast.

Together with the Saharan Atlas to the south it forms the northernmost of the ranges. It ends at the Rif on the west. It has a Mediterranean climate (warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters with snow in upper elevations).

The Atlas Mountains

The Tell Atlas

The northern slopes of the Tell Atlas are forested with the Algerian Fir, Atlas Cedar, pine and cork. In the summer a hot dry wind, the Sirocco, blows north from the Sahara across the Tell Atlas, causing dusty, dry conditions along the northern coast of Africa.

The Atlas Mountains

Several large cities such as Algiers and Oran lie at the base of the Tell Atlas.

The Aurs Mountains

The Atlas Mountains

The Aurs Mountains

The Aurs Mountains are an extension of the Atlas Mountains that lies to the east of the Saharan Atlas in eastern Algeria and northwestern Tunisia.

The highest peak is the Djebel Chlia (2328m).

Historically, they served as a refuge for the Berber tribes, forming a base of resistance against the Romans, Vandals, Byzantine and Arabs. The Chaoui Berbers occupy this region and practice tranchumance the seasonal movement of population and livestock across short distances.

The Atlas Mountains

The Rif

The Rif
The Rif is a mountainous region of northern Morocco. It is part of the Cordillera Btica that also includes the mountains of Southern Spain. The Rif mountains are not part of the Atlas Mountains but belong to the Gibraltar Arc or Alborn Sea geological region.

The Atlas Mountains

The Rif
The Rif receives more rainfall than any other region in Morocco with some parts receiving upwards of 2000mm or precipitation a year.

The western and central parts are covered in forests of Atlas Cedar, Cork Oak and Holm Oak, as well as the only remaining forests of Morocan Fir.

The Atlas Mountains

The eastern slopes receive less rainfall, and there forests consist mainly of pines.

The Rif
The Rif has been inhabited by the Riffains (Berber) since prehistoric times. As early as the 11th century BC, the Phoenicians began to establish trading posts on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. They founded cities such as Tetouan, Melilla and in the 5th century Tangier.

The Atlas Mountains

The Carthaginians replaced the Phoenicians as a major power in the region. After the Third Punic War, Carthage was supplanted by Rome.

The Rif
Under the Romans, the Riff became part of the Roman province of Mauretania. In the 5th century AD, the region was raided by Vandals, and Roman rule ended. It remained under Vandal control until the 6th century AD when the Byzantines came.

The Atlas Mountains

In 710, Salih I ibn Mansur founded the Kingdom of Nekor in the Rif and converted most Berbers to Islam. Arabs then established more cities.

The Pontics

The Pontic Mountain range, also known as the Parhar Mountains in the local Turkish and Greek languages is a mountain range in Northern Turkey that stretched parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea and extends eastwards to Georgia.

The Pontics
The mountains are generally covered by dense forests, predominantly of conifers. The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is an ecoregion which covers most of the range, while the Caucasus mixed forests extend across the eastern end of the range, known as the Kakar Mountains.

The Atlas Mountains

The narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Black Sea, known as Pontus, is home to the EuxineColchis deciduous forests, Europes only temperate rain forests. The coast is rocky and rugged.

The Pontics
The Anatolian Plateau, which lies south of the range, has a considerably drier and more continental climate than the humid and coastal climate.

It is mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen forests.

The Atlas Mountains

The Pontics
The Kakar Mountains are glaciated mountains, alpine in character, with steep rocky peaks and numerous mountain lakes. The highest peak in the range is Kakar Da, which rises to 3,931 m.

The Atlas Mountains

The Taurus Mountains

The Taurus Mountain Range is a mountain complex in southern Turkey, from which the Euphrates and Tigris descend into Iraq. It divides the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau.

The Taurus Mountains

The range starts from Egridir Lake in the west and extends to the upper side of the Euphrates River in the east after making a long curve.

Its northeastern extension across the Seyhan River near Adana is called the Anti-Taurus.

The Atlas Mountains

The highest peaks are Demirkazik (3,756m) at the Aladaglar National Park, Emler and Kizilkaya (both 3,723m), Nemrut Dag in the Anti-Taurus (3,916m).

Some of the peaks have glaciers on top with a small lake as well. The mountains are rugged.

The Taurus Mountains

The mountains have often been a long barrier to movement between the Anatolian basin and Syria. Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations ended at the Taurus. It was the frontier of the Seleucid and Atta lid empires. It was the frontier between the Roman dioceses Oriens and Pontus. It was the frontier between the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphates of Damascus and Baghdad.

The Atlas Mountains

The Taurus Mountains

The southern side of the Taurus mountains have been inhabited by the nomadic Yrk peoples, away from the bitter cold of the mountains and the Anatolian Plateau.

The Atlas Mountains

The Elburz Mountain Range

The Elburz Mountains

The Elburz Mountains

The Alborz, 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.

The Elburz Mountains

It forms a climatic barrier from the Caspian and the Central Iranian Plateau. The northern side receives a great deal of snow and rain and is blanketed by lush forests and a fertile coastal plain.
The southern side, in stark contrast has few trees and is characterised by barren brown slopes and desert below.

The Elburz Mountains

The Elburz is amongst the highest mountain range in the region and include Irans highest point, Damavand (5,771m). The southern face towers above Tehran, the capital. It is a potentially active volcano with thermal springs.

The Elburz Mountains

Other high peaks include Alam-Kuh and Takht-iSuleiman, both above 4,500m. The mountain range supports permanent snow and glaciers and although the southern slopes of the range tend to be dry and barren, the northern valleys leading to the Caspian Sea are lush with vegetation.

The Zagros Mountain Range

The Zagros Mountains

The 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 to Irans western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Straits of Hurmuz. The Zagros is an important part of Persian Gulf oil production. Salt domes and glaciers are also an important target for oil production.

The Zagros Mountains

Composed primary of limestone and shale, the mountain range has permanent snow cover. The highest point are Zard Kuh (4, 548m) and Mount Dena (4,358m).

The Zagros Mountains

In ancient times, the Zagros was the home of peoples such as the Kassites, Guti, Assyrians, Elamites and Mitanni, who periodically invaded the Sumerian and Akkadian cities of Mesopotamia. The mountains create a geographic barrier between the flatlands of Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau.

Mount Lebanon

Mount Lebanon

The Zagros Mountain Range

Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon or the Western Mountain Range of Lebanon extends across the whole country along about 160km parallel to the Mediterranean Coast. Lebanon has been historically defined by these mountains, which provided protection for the local population. The mountains are known for their oak and pine forests.

Mount Lebanon
In the high slopes of Mount Lebanon are the last remaining groves of the famous Cedars of Lebanon.

Mount Lebanon
The Forests of the Cedars of God are among the last survivors of the extensive forests of the Cedars of Lebanon that thrived across Mount Lebanon in ancient times. Their timber was exploited by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians as well as the Phoenicians. It is now on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Mount Lebanon
The highest peak is Qurnat as Sawda at 3,088 metres high. Snow covers much of the mountain for most of the year.

The Anti-Lebanese Mountains

The Anti-Lebanese Mountains

The Anti-Lebanese Mountains

Also known as the Eastern Lebanese Mountains, this mountain range is located between Syria and Lebanon. At the southern end it is within the Golan Heights. The range lies parallel to the Mount Lebanon Range. The Beqaa Valley lies between in the north and the Hasbani River Valley in the south.

The Anti-Lebanese Mountains

Mount Hermon (2,814m) is the highest peak in the Anti-Lebanese Mountains.

The Anti-Lebanon Mountains

Mount Hermon forms one of the greatest geographic resources of the area. Due to its height, it can capture a great deal of precipitation in a very dry area of the world.

Melted water from the mountain forms streams and rivers which merge to form the Jordan River.

Acknowledgements
www.euratlas.com www.wikipedia.com