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Tigris and Euphrates
Tigris
The Tigris is approximately 1,180
miles long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of
eastern Turkey and flowing in a generally
southeasterly direction until it joins the
Euphrates near in southern Iraq. The two rivers
together form the Shatt al-Arab waterway,
which empties into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris
is joined by many tributaries, including the
Diyala and both the Upper and Lower Zab
rivers.
The Tigris is heavily dammed in Iraq
and Turkey, to provide water for irrigating the
arid and semi-desert regions bordering the river
valley. Damming has also been important for
averting floods in Iraq, to which the Tigris has
historically been notoriously prone following
snowmelt in the Turkish mountains around
April. Recent Turkish damming of the river has
been the subject of some controversy, both for
NASA satellite image of downtown Bagdad. The city
its environmental effects within Turkey and its
was founded on the banks of the river thousands of
potential to reduce the flow of water
years ago.
downstream.
Euphrates
A false color-composite satellite image of Euphrates
between Lake Asad and the town of Ar-Raqqah in Syria.
The river is approximately 1,730
miles long. It is formed by the union of two
branches, the Kara, which rises in the
Armenian highlands of today's eastern
Turkey north of Erzurum and the Murat,
which issues from an area southwest of
Mount Ararat, north of Lake Van. The upper
reaches of the Euphrates flow through
steep canyons and gorges, southeast
across Syria, and through Iraq.
The Euphrates provided the
water that led to the first flowering of
civilization in Sumer, dating from about the
4th millennium BC. Many important ancient
cities were located on or near the riverside,
including Mari, Sippar, Ur and Eridu. The
river valley formed the heartlands of the
later empires of Babylonia and Assyria. For
several centuries, the river formed the
eastern limit of effective Egyptian and
Roman control and western regions of the
Persian Empire.
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on
Earth by area. It has a surface area of
143,244 square miles and a volume of
18,761 cubic miles. It lies between the southern areas
of the Russian Federation and northern Iran. It has a
maximum depth of about 3,363 ft. It is called a sea
because when the Romans first arrived there, they
tasted the water and found it to be salty.
The Volga River (about 80% of the inflow)
and the Ural River discharge into the Caspian Sea, but
it is endorheic, meaning there is no natural outflow.
Thus the Caspian ecosystem is a closed basin, with its
own sea level history that is independent of the sea
level of the world's oceans. The Caspian became
landlocked about 5.5 million years ago. The level of
the Caspian has fallen and risen, often rapidly, many
times over the centuries. Some Russian historians
claim that a medieval rising of the Caspian caused the
coastal towns of Khazaria to flood. In 2004, the water
level was 92 feet below sea level.
Caspian Wildlife
Caspian White Fish
Caspian Tern
Caspian Seal
Caspian Salmon
Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is a bay
that forms the northeastern
part of the Indian Ocean. It
resembles a triangle in shape,
and is bordered on the east by
Malay Peninsula, and on the
west by India. On the northern
tip of the "bay" lies the Bengal
region, comprising the Indian
state of West Bengal and the
country of Bangladesh, thus
the name. The southern
extremes reach the island
country of Sri Lanka, and the
Indian Union Territory of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Phytoplankton Concentrations in the Sea of Bengal.
This is used to monitor cholera outbreaks in the
region.
Bay of Bengal- Marine Biology
Bay of Bengal is home to a large coral
reef system. As a result of the tsunami
that struck the region in December of
2004, many of the reefs were partially
destroyed.
The Mangrove forests along the Bay of
Bengal provide protection from storm surge
and erosion. They also provide a protective
habitat for many species’ young.
Marine Animals
The Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is one of
the smallest species of sea turtle
Wrasse are commonly found patrolling the reefs in
the Bay of Bengal
Although sometimes called the Irrawaddy River Dolphin, it is
not a true river dolphin but an oceanic dolphin that lives near
coasts and enters rivers
Glory of Bengal Cone often wash up on the beaches
in the Bay of Bengal.