This difference is supplied by currents at the Strait of Hormuz.
The evaporation of the sea is high, so that after considering river discharge and rain contributions, there is still a deficit of 416 cubic kilometres (100 cu mi) per year.
Writing the water balance budget for the Persian Gulf, the inputs are river discharges from Iran and Iraq (estimated to be 2,000 cubic metres (71,000 cu ft) per second), as well as precipitation over the sea which is around 180 mm (7.1 in)/year in Qeshm Island. The Persian Gulf is connected to the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz. Persian Gulf islands are often also historically significant, having been used in the past by colonial powers such as the Portuguese and the British in their trade or as acquisitions for their empires. In recent years, there has also been the addition of artificial islands for tourist attractions, such as The World Islands in Dubai and The Pearl-Qatar in Doha. Other significant islands in the Persian Gulf include Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Kish administered by Iran, Bubiyan administered by Kuwait, Tarout administered by Saudi Arabia, and Dalma administered by UAE. Geographically, the biggest island in the Persian Gulf is Qeshm island, belonging to Iran and located in the Strait of Hormuz. The Persian Gulf is home to many islands such as Bahrain, an Arab state. See also: List of islands in the Persian Gulf Various small islands also lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states in the region.Įxclusive economic zones in the Persian Gulf: Number Overall, the waters are very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres (295 feet) and an average depth of 50 metres (164 feet).Ĭountries with a coastline on the Persian Gulf are (clockwise, from north): Iran Oman's Musandam exclave the United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Qatar, on a peninsula off the Saudi coast Bahrain, an island nation Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest. The Persian Gulf is about 56 km (35 mi) wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz.
Its length is 989 kilometres (615 miles), with Iran covering most of the northern coast and Saudi Arabia most of the southern coast. In Iran, this is called "Arvand Rood", where "Rood" means "river". This inland sea of some 251,000 square kilometres (96,912 sq mi) is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz and its western end is marked by the major river delta of the Shatt al-Arab, which carries the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris. This limit is defined as "A line joining Ràs Limah (25★7'N) on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh (25☄8'N) on the coast of Iran (Persia)". The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Persian Gulf's southern limit as "The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Oman". See also: Eastern Arabia and Arab states of the Persian Gulf The current flooding of the basin started 15,000 years ago due to rising sea levels of the Holocene glacial retreat. The Persian Gulf is in the Persian Gulf Basin, which is of Cenozoic origin and related to the subduction of the Arabian Plate under the Zagros Mountains. The Persian Gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive reefs (mostly rocky, but also coral), and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology has been damaged by industrialization and oil spills. It is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers. The Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea ( Gulf of Oman) through the Strait of Hormuz and lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest. The Persian Gulf ( Persian: خلیج فارس, romanized: xalij-e fârs, lit.'Gulf of Fars', pronounced ) is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia.