GEOGRAPHY

The Land

TERRAIN

The most prominent geophysical feature of Kurdistan is clearly its mountainousness. Kurdistan at present is composed primarily of the area of the central and northern Zagros, the eastern two-thirds of the Taurus and Pontus, and the northern half of the Amanus mountains. The two large, detached Kurdish enclaves are in the Rivand heights of the eastern section of the Alburz mountains of northeastern Iran, in the province of Khurasân, and in the central Pontian mountains in central and north-central Anatolia, neighboring the Turkish capital of Ankara. In addition to these, there have been for centuries many smaller Kurdish enclaves in areas ranging from the volcanic highlands of western Baluchistan, to the central Alburz range in northern Iran, to the Ulu Mountains on the Aegean coast of western Turkey.

In contiguous Kurdistan, as well as in the many far-flung Kurdish settlements, mountains are the single most important natural phenomenon, and they have shaped the Kurdish history, people, tradition, and culture. Kurdish domains end abruptly where the plains begin.

Northern Kurdistan has the highest average elevation. In the words of William Eagleton, this is the home of "roaring torrents, shadowed canyons and suspension bridges." Central Kurdistan, on the other hand, has the lowest average elevation, with the warmest, often balmy, climate in all of Kurdistan. The other sections of the land range between these two extremes. The Kurdish mountains form a rampart to the Iranian and Anatolian Plateaus to the east and west, respectively, separating them from the flat plains of Arabia to the south and southwest, and the Black Sea basin to the north. The central massif runs the entire length of Kurdistan from one end to the other like a mighty spinal column.

The highest points in Kurdistan are, respectively, Mt. Alvand in the south (in Iran) at 11,745 feet, Mt. Halgurd (or Algurd) in north-central Kurdistan (in Iraq) at 12,249 feet, Mt. Munzur in the west (in Turkey) at 11,644 feet, and Mt. Ararat in the north (in Turkey) at 16,946 feet.

GEOLOGY

Kurdistan is geologically quite active. The land straddles the subduction zone between the colliding Eurasian and African tectonic plates. Locally, the breakaway Arabian microplate is being subducted under the Iranian and Anatolian microplates at the rate of a few inches a year, and as a result the Zagros mountains and Kurdistan-the point of this collision-are being compressed and pushed upward several inches a year. This continental collision, which began about 15 million years ago, pushed up the area of Kurdistan from the bottom of the Tethys Sea, which covered Southwest Asia, and is still adding elevation to the young mountains of Kurdistan.

The geologic province of the Kurdish foothills which faces the Arabian platform, is basically a continuation of the same land formation that lies farther south under the Persian Gulf-a remnant of the ancient Tethys Sea with its wealth of hydrocarbons. These formations run almost unchanged from the East Coast of the Mediterranean Sea at Antioch to the Straits of Hormuz. In fact, the waters of the Persian Gulf washed the Kurdish foothills until very recently in geologic terms, when they joined the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, separating Eurasia from Africa and Arabia. The petroleum-bearing geologic strata of the Persian Gulf thus ought to be credited for the wealth of petroleum and natural gas deposits in Kurdistan.

Massive volcanic outpourings have resurfaced large portions of Kurdistan in the north and Northeast. The greater and lesser Ararat peaks, as well as Mt. Nimrod (or Nimrut Dâgh) on the shores of Lake Vân, are three prominent results of this active geology. Also, Lake Vân and Lake Urmia are both the results of the natural damming of river channels by lava flows in the geologically recent past The rest of the land is thoroughly folded, with numerous fault lines crossing Kurdistan, mainly in a Northwest - Southeast direction, but more or less east-west in western Kurdistan. Igneous outpourings have enriched the land with many commercially valuable mineral resources. They have also painted the landscape with such richness in rock colors that it continues unfailingly to astonish outsiders on their first visit.

Its active geology has also rendered Kurdistan an earthquake-prone land. One result of this is that very few archaeological monuments stand above ground. At Kangawar in southern Kurdistan, the vast temples of the goddess Anahita bear dramatic witness to the force and persistence of these tremors. The far-thrown columns, shattered grand staircases, and crumbled masonry platforms and walls are vivid illustrations of 2,200 years of ceaseless quakes. The mangled colossal statues at Mt. Nimrut Dâgh (not to be confused with Mt. Nimrod, above) north of Adiy Aman in far western Kurdistan are other examples. The persistent folk tales and legends of cities and villages that were "swafiowed up by the earth" all point to this geologic activity throughout the ages.