Geography of Qatar

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Topographic map of Qatar
Map of Qatar

The geography of Qatar is the description of the physical condition of the national territory of Qatar as well as the resulting interaction between this habitat and its inhabitants.

National territory

Qatar is a peninsula that lies in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula and protrudes into the Persian Gulf. The national territory is roughly between 24 ° 32 'and 26 ° 10' north latitude and 50 ° 45 'and 51 ° 40' east longitude. The land border in the south with Saudi Arabia is about 60 km long. There are sea borders with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain , the United Arab Emirates and Iran .

Qatar has a land area of ​​11,437 km².

A dispute with Bahrain over the membership of the Hawar Islands and some other islets and dry elevations in the sea off the coast of Qatar and the city of az-Zubara on the mainland was decided by a decision of the International Court of Justice on March 16, 2001. Thereafter, the area belong to the city that Dschanan Island ( 25 ° 33 '  N , 50 ° 44'  O ) and the tide elevation Fascht ad-Dibal ( 26 ° 16 '  N , 50 ° 57'  O ) in the northwest to Qatar .

The sea and land borders with Saudi Arabia were agreed on December 4, 1965. Nevertheless, there was a dispute with Saudi Arabia over the land border, but it was resolved in 2001. In 2008 another dispute about the border at sea ( Chaur al-Udaid ) was resolved.

The maritime border with the United Arab Emirates was established on March 20, 1969, shortly before Qatar gained independence in 1971. Since several oil deposits were already known in the Persian Gulf at that time, it was decided to jointly promote the cross-border oil deposits al-Bunduq. Subsequently, on September 20, 1969, a border agreement was reached with Iran.

Topographical description

Desert in Qatar

The country is largely a limestone desert with almost no vegetation, while only 28,000 hectares or 2.5% of the land area can be used for agriculture. There are no year-round bodies of water, although the occasional winter rain can cause the desert landscape to blossom locally. The groundwater consists of fresh water only in the northern half of the country, while it consists of brackish water in the southern half . Many sabchas can be found on the coast . These shallow basins that are temporarily filled with water and have no surface runoff have a more or less thick salt crust due to the high rate of evaporation of water.

In a few places on the coast there are remains of mangrove forests.

The highest elevation Qurain Abu l-Baul in Qatar is 102 m at the position: ( 24 ° 43 ′ 7 ″  N , 51 ° 2 ′ 51 ″  E ).

Chaur al-Udaid

Chaur al-Udaid , also Khor al-Adaid or Inland Sea , is a large bay on the border with Saudi Arabia. The bay consists of a strait about 600 m wide at its narrowest point , which leads to a lake about 10 km long and 5 km wide in the interior of the country. On the northern edge there is a flat, about 15 kilometers wide and 7 kilometers long flooded land area.

The bay is surrounded by dunes up to 70 meters high , foothills of the Rub al-Kali desert .

Duchan region

The region in the southwest is a bulge created by folding ( anticline ). There are extensive oil and gas production facilities there.

Ar-Rim UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ar-Rim Island ( 25 ° 45 '0 "  N , 51 ° 0' 0"  O ) on the west coast of Qatar has an area of 118,888 ha, of which 46,555 hectares of land and 36,931 are ha in the sea. Gazelles and oryx antelopes live there .

Individual evidence

  1. International Court of Justice: Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) ( Memento of the original dated January 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.icj-cij.org
  2. Border agreement between Saudi Arabia and Qatar (with exact dates)
  3. ^ Qatar, Saudi Arabia Sign Border Agreement
  4. ^ Saudi, Qatar border deal could unlock gas deal
  5. Border agreement between the UAE and Qatar (with exact dates) (PDF; 1.7 MB)
  6. Border agreement between Iran and Qatar (with exact dates) (PDF; 4.0 MB)
  7. ^ Qatar - Geography and population ( Memento of February 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) FAO : Qatar
  8. Qatar's Mangrove Forests
  9. Biosphere Reserve Information AL-REEM

Web links