This article is about the physiographical region. For the Persian cultural sphere, see Greater Iran.
Not to be confused with Iranian Plate.
Iranian Plateau
Persian Plateau
Plateau
Topographic map of the Iranian Plateau, connected to the Armenian highlands and Anatolia in the west, and to the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas in the east
Location
Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia (including the South Caucasus)
Part of
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), Pakistan,[note 1] and Turkmenistan
Geology
Eurasian Plate
Area
• Total
3,700,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Dimensions
• Length
2,000 km (1,200 mi)
Highest elevation
7,492 m (24,580 ft)
(Noshaq)
The Iranian Plateau[1] or Persian Plateau[2][3] is a geological feature spanning parts of Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. It makes up part of the Eurasian Plate, and is wedged between the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate. The plateau is situated between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Köpet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains to the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south, and the Indian subcontinent to the east.
As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media, Persis, and some of the previous territories of Greater Iran.[4] The Zagros form the plateau's western boundary, and its eastern slopes may also be included in the term. The Encyclopædia Britannica excludes "lowland Khuzestan" explicitly[5] and characterizes Elam as spanning "the region from the Mesopotamian plain to the Iranian Plateau".[6]
From the Caspian in the northwest to Balochistan in the southeast, the Iranian Plateau extends for close to 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi). It encompasses a large part of Iran, all of Afghanistan, and the parts of Pakistan that are situated to the west of the Indus River,[note 2] covering an area of some 3,700,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi).[citation needed] In spite of being called a plateau, it is far from flat, and contains several mountain ranges; its highest point is Noshaq in the Hindu Kush at 7,492 metres (24,580 ft), and its lowest point is the Lut Desert to the east of Kerman, Iran, at below 300 metres (980 ft).
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
^The Iranian Plateau from Paleolithic Times to the Rise of the Achaemenid Empire
^Robert H. Dyson (2 June 1968). The archaeological evidence of the second millennium B.C. on the Persian plateau. ISBN 0-521-07098-8.
^James Bell (1832). A System of Geography, Popular and Scientific. Archibald Fullarton. pp. 7, 284, 287, 288.
^"Old Iranian Online" Archived 24 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, University of Texas College of Liberal Arts (retrieved 10 February 2007)
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