PERSIAN GULF

The Persian Gulf. also called Arabian Gulf, Arabic Bahr Faris, Persian Khalij-e Fars, shallow marginal sea of the Indian Ocean that lies between the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Iran. The sea has an area of about 93,000 square miles (241,000 square kilometres). Its length is 615 miles (989 kilometres), and its width varies from a maximum of 210 miles to a minimum of 35 miles in the Strait of Hormuz. It is bordered on the north, northeast, and east by Iran; on the southeast and south by part of Oman and by the United Arab Emirates; on the southwest and west by Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia; and on the northwest by Kuwait and Iraq. The term Persian Gulf (or Arabian Gulf, the name used by Arabs) sometimes is employed to refer not only to the Persian Gulf proper but also to its outlets, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, which open into the Arabian Sea. This discussion, however, focuses primarily on the Persian Gulf proper. also called Arabian Gulf, Arabic Bahr Faris, Persian Khalij-e Fars, shallow marginal sea of the Indian Ocean covering a surface area of 92,500 square miles (239,600 square km) between the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Iran. The Persian Gulf extends 615 miles (990 km) from the Shatt Al-'Arab (mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) in the northwest to its outlets, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, on the southeast; its width ranges from 35 to 210 miles (55 to 340 km). The gulf contains the island state of Bahrain and is bordered by Iran to the north and east, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to the south, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to the west, and Kuwait and Iraq to the northwest. The seafloor is very shallow, rarely deeper than 300 feet (90 m), although depths exceeding 360 feet (110 m) are found near its outlet and at isolated localities in its southeastern part. The deepest waters occur along the Iranian coast, while a broad shallow area, averaging less than 120 feet (36 m) deep, borders the Arabian coast. The small freshwater inflow into the gulf is mostly from the Tigris, Euphrates, and Karun rivers; virtually no freshwater flows into the gulf on its southwest side. This condition, together with high water temperatures, results in evaporation in excess of freshwater inflow and high salinity. The economy of the Persian Gulf region is dominated by petroleum production. The gulf and surrounding countries produce over one-fourth of the world's total petroleum and have almost two-thirds of the world's proven oil reserves. Large commercial-fishing industries have also developed on the gulf coasts in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, though these were temporarily crippled in the early 1990s after Iraq unleashed several massive oil spills from offshore Kuwaiti platforms in the course of the Persian Gulf War (1991). Additional reading B.H. Purser (ed.), The Persian Gulf: Holocene Carbonate Sedimentation and Diagenesis in a Shallow Epicontinental Sea (1973), covers almost all important recent work. Arnold T. Wilson, The Persian Gulf (1928, reprinted 1981), is a classic work on the history and development of the area. R.J. Murris, "Middle East: Stratigraphic Evolution and Oil Habitat," Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 64(5):597-618 (May 1980), present an excellent general review of the geology and origin of the oil deposits of the area. Great Britain Hydrographic Dept., Persian Gulf Pilot, 12th ed. (1982); and United States Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Center, Sailing Directions (Enroute) for the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (1978), are invaluable sources of detailed meteorological, oceanographic, navigational, physiographic, and general local information. Papers on various aspects of the general environment of the Persian Gulf are collected in Proceedings: Symposium on Regional Marine Pollution Monitoring and Research Programmes (1988), including an up-to-date review of the geology and oceanography of the gulf by Graham Evans, "An Outline of the Geological Background and Contemporary Sedimentation of the ROPME Sea Area," pp. 25-45. Graham Evans