"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٢‎٥] (٨٦٢/٥٤)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
21
General Description
{a) The Mesopotamian Plain
(6) The regimes of the Euphrates and Tigris
(c) The Euphrates in Iraq
(d) The Tigris in Iraq
(e) The pattern of the mountains
(/) The pattern of the mountain rivers
Regional Description
Lower Mesopotamia
(a) The lower delta lands
{b) The upper delta lands
Upper Mesopotamia
(a) The Jazira of Iraq
(b) The Assyrian plains and foothills
Iraqi Kurdistan
(a) The basins of the Diyala and Adhaim
(b) The basin of the Little Zab
(c) The basin of the Great Zab
(d) The basin of the Khabur
The Western and Southern Deserts
General Description
(a) The Mesopotamian Plain
The action of the Karkheh and the Karun, which are remarkable
for the amount of sediment which they carry, in forming a barrier
across the Persian Gulf has already been mentioned (p. 19). The
two rivers, and the greater part of their*combined delta, are in Persia,
so that details do not directly concern Iraq. The Karun now collects
most of the mountain streams d^ining the hills north-east of Ahwaz,
including the Ab-i-Diz, ‘the river of Dizful’. In historical times
it was joined by the Karkheh; but, though their delta is a joint
one, the latter river now pours most of its silt-laden waters into the
low ground on both sides of the Iraq-Persian boundary east of Amara,
where it aids the flood waters of the Tigris in building up the land
between the Tigris and the lower Karun. The main channel of the
Karun now joins the Shatt al Arab—the combined outlet of the
Tigris and of the Euphrates—at Mohammerah (Khorramshahr)
just outside Iraq, and 23 miles down-river of Basra; but this is a
comparatively recent event, for in the tenth century a.d. Abadan
was the seaport of Basra, actually on the Persian Gulf, and the joint