2007-05-09 14:41:29 · 5 answers · asked by coatedxstrings 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Geography
The Arabian Peninsula is an ancient massif composed of stable crystalline rock whose geologic structure developed concurrently with the Alps. Geologic movements caused the entire mass to tilt eastward and the western and southern edges to tilt upward. In the valley created by the fault, called the Great Rift, the Red Sea was formed.
The bulk of Arabia consists of two main geomorphological areas: the Arabian shield in the west; and sedimentary areas dipping away from the shield to the northeast, east, and southeast into the great basin consisting of lower Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and the eastern part of the Rub' al-Khali (the Empty Quarter) desert. The eastern edge of the shield curves eastward from the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, a northern extension of the Red Sea, to a point midway across the peninsula and then trends southwestward and southward to the Yemeni highlands. Extinct volcanoes overlie the shield; their eruptions, which ceased seven centuries ago, produced the broad black lava beds (harrahs) that are characteristic of the western Arabian landscape.
2007-05-11 17:59:06 · answer #1 · answered by mahua 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It has been desert for millions of years. Prior to that (per the fossil record that is emerging now) it was temperate grasslands with adequate water.
2007-05-09 21:47:10 · answer #2 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe part of north america and was separated during the ice age
2007-05-09 21:45:53 · answer #3 · answered by ANDERSON P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
About the same as it is now. A ____load of sand.
2007-05-09 21:45:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was sandy
2007-05-09 21:45:20 · answer #5 · answered by BeachBum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋