Karstbase Bibliography Database

The region covering the Arabian Peninsula and the adjoining northern Arabian countries coincides approximately with a specific large geologic struCture: the Arabian Plate. Politically the region includes the countries of the Arabian Peninsula together with the northern Arab countries: AI Mashreq - the eastern part of the caliphate or of the Arab World. In a geographic political view the region may be denominated Arab Middle East (Ash Sharq al Awsat) or Western Asia.
The Arab Middle East with an area of 3.7 million lan2 forms a small subcontinent between the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, the Gulf and, in the north, the Zagros-Taurus mountain chains. About 90% of the region are semiarid to arid steppe or desert areas. As perennial rivers exist only in the northern and western margins of the Arab Middle East, the use of groundwater resources is an essential basis for the economic development and survival of the countries. The
region includes 12 Arab countries; water demand/supply previews indicaTe precarious siruations in the near future for mosu of these countries.
The idea ci compiling a book on "Groundwater in the Arab Middle East" arose from the professional activities of the author as hydrogeologist in the services of the German Government between 1965 and 1998, much of which was devoted to groundwater projectS in the Middle East. The information presented in the book is based on reviews of a large number of publications, reportS and documents as well as on field experience in various Arab countries.
The groundwater projects in the Middle East, in which the author had the
chance to panicipate, were carried out in the framework of Technical Cooperation between national or international institutions of the region and the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources, BGR, Hannover, partly in connection with activities of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, GTZ, Eschbom. The projects were sponsored by the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Bonn. Regional information on groundwater conditions in the Middle East were obtained, in panicular, through long-term assigrunents of  the author to international institutions: The Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands of the Arab League (ACSAD), Damascus, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Amman and Beirut.