ABSTRACT
The last major tectonic development of the Arabian plate occurred about three million years ago in the middle of the Pliocene age, resulting in three significant changes to the land. Compression forces along the line where the Arabian and Eurasian plates had collided squeezed the land upwards, raising the Zagros mountains to their present height; the Arabian peninsula was tilted, up towards the southwest and down towards the northeast, which had the effect of depressing the Three great rivers drained most of the peninsula in the Pliocene period, from 3 mya to 1 mya. Their catchment areas were extensive. During this period of prolonged and heavy rainfall they were probably the equal of today's river Nile. The surface of Northeast Arabia and much of the Empty Quarter consists of their former deltas. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315063232/5c8746ab-3b9d-40c9-b747-989c457b3797/content/fig00083_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
