ABSTRACT
The landscape comprises an underlying structure and a surface form. In the Middle East, large areas of which are totally unencumbered by human artifacts or even vegetation cover, the relationship between structure and form is more apparent than in probably any other major region of the world. The principal fault patterns can be clearly seen, the geological characteristics are relatively obvious and the effects of the major geomorphological processes are clear-cut. However, underlying this clarity is complexity. The foundations have been laid by the tectonic history, the main events of which are on a macro-scale. Given the vast extent of the timescale involved and the global nature of the movements, the finer detail of this must remain to an extent conjectural. On the mosaic of land masses resulting from tectonic activity, the geological sequence has been laid. Through emergence and submergence, drier periods and wetter periods, the stratigraphy varies in time and location throughout the Middle East. In the context of tectonics, these would be considered meso-scale differences. The emergent land mass has then been moulded by geomorphological processes to produce the present landscape. Many of these processes operate on what is, comparatively, a micro-scale. Thus there are broad differences in scale between the events which have occurred in tectonics, geology and geomorphology.
