[Map] Landforms of Arabia

Raisz, Erwin

Published by Institute of Geographical Exploration, Harvard University for the Environmental Protection Section of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1951

About this Item

Printed paper map including 1 inset cross-section, 3 inset maps, and a Glossary, in b/w with some hand colouring 77x68cm. Fair only: neatly folded, with University library ink stamp and more recent barcode sticker to the lower part of the image (impacting the grid but avoiding the landforms) and blank verso, closed tears with some loss at one of the intersections, and neatly applied tape repairs to verso folds. Hungarian born Erwin Raisz (1893-1968), an engineer and geologist, at this time taught cartography and curated the Map Collection at the Institute of Geographical Exploration at Harvard University. Beautifully drawn in his distinctive pen and ink style, this shows the whole of the Arabian Peninsula including Socotra, extending north as far as Jerusalem and Amman (NW) and Dizful (NE) on a 1/3.5M scale. He drew it from USAAF reconnaissance photos and aeronautical charts (adopting their spelling), Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) maps and advice, the accounts of Philby, Musil, Thomas, Lees, Twitchell, Thesiger "and many others", British maps of Iraq, Transjordan and the Levant, and Dubertret's lithologic maps of the northern parts. Details include settlements, roads, railways, oil wells, waterholes, dykes in sand, sabkha, jebels, elongated sand dunes, lava beds, dendritic sandy river beds, dissected sedimentary plateau, limestone plains, mottled rocky irregular sediments, isolated igneous mountains, and salt flats, with very many captions describing terrain in the image. The geological cross-section covers from the Red Sea's coastal fans via the Tuwaiq Mountains to the Hasa Plain on the Persian Gulf. The 3 inset maps show the Peninsula's landform regions, political divisions, and reliability assessed as either "good" or "poor". Pre-dating the comprehensive USGS-Aramco mapping exercise (1956-63), Raisz defines two very large areas of poor reliability as the Nefud and Rub al Khali and their environs extending to the Red Sea coast. These areas are however well populated with his impressions and data. He drew his "Landforms of the Near East" in the same year.

Seller Inventory # 6175

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Map] Landforms of Arabia
• Publisher: Institute of Geographical Exploration, Harvard University for the Environmental Protection Section of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 1951
• Language: English
• Binding: No Binding
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fair