Middle East Geography

_________ are the most common physical feature here and make up 66% of the area.

• Mountains

• Deserts

• Plateaus

• Grasslands

The Middle East has an issue with water scarcity. What does scarce mean?

• Dirty or filled with waste

• Large amount

• Increasing GDP

• Low amount

The climate of Southwest Asia has led much of the region to experience a scarcity of _____________.

• Trading

• Rainfall

• Oil production

• Desalination plants

Much of the world’s oil supply is shipped through the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula called the __________________.

• Panama Canal

• Suez Canal

• Jordan River

• Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz connects which bodies of water?

• Red Sea & Arabian Sea

• Mediterranean Sea & Persian Gulf

• Mediterranean Sea & Red Sea

• Persian Gulf & Arabian Sea

Why is the Suez Canal so important to international shipping?

• It allows ships to get out of the Persian Gulf.

• It is Iraq’s only waterway to the Persian Gulf.

• It connects the Jordan River to the Persian Gulf, making it cheaper to ship oil to other parts of Southwest Asia.

• It makes it possible to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea without sailing around Africa.

Disputes over what two natural resources are problematic for many Southwest Asian countries?

• Oil and Water

• Water and Diamonds

• Diamonds and Natural Gas

• Oil and Diamonds

What are three major water problems in Southwest Asia?

• Water shortages, unequal distribution, pollution

• Flooding, pollution, dams

• Too much ground water, aquifers, pollution

• Water shortages, flooding, pollution

What non-renewable natural resource has contributed to the growth of the Middle East?

• Oil

• Water

• Timber

• Cotton

The process of removing salt from salt water in order to make it suitable for farming and drinking is known as

• Desalination

• Naturalization

• Absorption

• Extraction