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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
East of the Ad Dahna lies the rocky As Summan Plateau, about
120 kilometers wide and dropping in elevation from about 400
meters in the west to about 240 meters in the east. The area is
generally barren, with a highly eroded surface of ancient river
gorges and isolated buttes.
Farther east the terrain changes abruptly to the flat
lowlands of the coastal plain. This area, about sixty kilometers
wide, is generally featureless and covered with gravel or sand.
In the north is the Ad Dibdibah graveled plain and in the south
the Al Jafurah sand desert, which reaches the gulf near Dhahran
and merges with the Rub al Khali at its southern end. The coast
itself is extremely irregular, merging sandy plains, marshes, and
salt flats almost imperceptibly with the sea. As a result, the
land surface is unstable; in places water rises almost to the
surface, and the sea is shallow, with shoals and coral reefs (photos) extending
far offshore. Only the construction of long moles at Ras Tanura
has opened the Saudi coast on the gulf to seagoing tankers.
Eastern Arabia is sometimes called Al Ahsa, or Al Hasa after
the great oasis, one of the more fertile areas of the country. Al
Ahsa, the largest oasis in the country, actually comprises two
neighboring oases, including the town of Al Hufuf.
Data as of December 1992
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