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Saudi Arabia
Eastern Arabia
East of the Ad Dahna lies the rocky As Summan Plateau, about
120 kilometers wide and dropping in elevation from about 400 meters
in the west to about 240 meters in the east. The area is generally
barren, with a highly eroded surface of ancient river gorges and
isolated buttes.
Farther east the terrain changes abruptly to the flat lowlands
of the coastal plain. This area, about sixty kilometers wide,
is generally featureless and covered with gravel or sand. In the
north is the Ad Dibdibah graveled plain and in the south the Al
Jafurah sand desert, which reaches the gulf near Dhahran and merges
with the Rub al Khali at its southern end. The coast itself is
extremely irregular, merging sandy plains, marshes, and salt flats
almost imperceptibly with the sea. As a result, the land surface
is unstable; in places water rises almost to the surface, and
the sea is shallow, with shoals and reefs extending far offshore.
Only the construction of long moles at Ras Tanura has opened the
Saudi coast on the gulf to seagoing tankers.
Eastern Arabia is sometimes called Al Ahsa, or Al Hasa after
the great oasis, one of the more fertile areas of the country.
Al Ahsa, the largest oasis in the country, actually comprises
two neighboring oases, including the town of Al Hufuf.
Data as of December 1992
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