Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz. It lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest. In 2002, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE produced about 25% of the world’s crude oil reserves.

About Persian Gulf in brief

Summary Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz. It lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest. The Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other’s oil tankers. It is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The Persian Gulf and its coastal areas are the world’s largest single source of petroleum, and related industries. The oil-rich countries that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as Persian Gulf States. In 2002, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE produced about 25% of the world’s crude oil reserves, and about 35% of its natural gas reserves. Large gas finds have also been made, with Iran sharing a giant gas field across the Gulf of Oman with Qatar, which has built up a substantial natural gas and petrochemical industry. The Iranian oil industry is one of the largest in the world, and is the largest oil producer in the Middle East and North Africa. The region is also home to the Safaniya Oil Field, the largest offshore oilfield, is located in the region, and has been used to make gas and liquefied natural gas products. The waters are overall very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres and an average depth of 50 metres.

The Persian gulf is about 56 km wide at its narrowest, in the strait of HORMuz. Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast and Saudi Arabia most of its southern coast. Various small islands also lie within the Persian gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states of the region. The current flooding of the basin started 15,000 years ago due to rising sea levels of the Holocene glacial retreat. This inland sea of some 251,000 square kilometres is connected to the gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait. Its western end is marked by the major river delta of the Shatt al-Arab, which carries the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris. The International Hydrographic Organization defines Persian Gulf’s southern limit as \”The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Sultanah\”. This limit is defined as a line joining Ràs Limah on the coast of Arabia and RàS al Kuh onThe coast of Iran \”. The Gulf has a higher salinity, and therefore exits from the bottom of the Strait, while ocean water with less salinity flows in through the top. Another study revealed the following numbers for water exchanges for the Persian Persian Gulf: evaporation = –1. 84 m year, precipitation = 0. 08 M year, inflow from the Strait = 33. 66 year, outflow from Strait = -32. 11 and the balance is 0 m year.