Iranian Plateau

A highland region of southwestern Asia centered on Iran, extending into parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan and enclosed by mountain ranges. Its basins, deserts, and uplands form a distinctive physical region.

Zagros Mountains: A mountain range running along western Iran from northwestern Iran toward the Persian Gulf. They form much of the plateau’s western boundary and separate its interior from Mesopotamia.
Qanat: An underground channel that carries groundwater from an upland source to settlements or fields by gravity. Qanats made irrigation possible where surface water was scarce.
Arabian Plate: A tectonic plate underlying the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent parts of the Middle East. Its northward motion contributes to the compression that raised western Iran.
Central Iranian Plateau: The arid interior highlands and basins occupying much of central Iran. Its desert basins and mountain ranges form the plateau’s central core.
Anatolian Plateau: A highland region occupying most of the Asian part of Turkey. It lies northwest of the Iranian Plateau, across the Zagros and Armenian highlands.
Alborz: A mountain range south of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, including Mount Damavand. The range marks the plateau’s northern edge beside the Caspian lowlands.
Persian qanat: The Iranian tradition of constructing and maintaining underground water channels for irrigation and settlement. Its long history makes the plateau a major center of qanat engineering.
Eurasian Plate: A tectonic plate containing most of Europe and Asia. Collision and convergence with neighboring plates helped deform the plateau.
Sistan Basin: An endorheic basin spanning southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan, fed chiefly by the Helmand River. It shows how a major river sustains wetlands within an otherwise arid region.
Tibetan Plateau: A vast, high-elevation region of Central Asia north of the Himalayas. Both are Asian highlands, but Tibet is far higher and bounded by different mountain systems.

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