Physical Geography of the Makran Coastal Plain of Iran

Abstract

This volume (the Society has received Copy No. 52) has been issued under Contract No. N00014-66-C-0104 Task Order NR 388-082 ofthe Geography Programs, Office of Naval Research, USA. It has 715 photocopied pages size 277 X 215 mm, is 43 mm thick, includes numerous sketch-maps, diagrams, photographs and appendixes, and has a bibliography of 779 references covering a wider area than the Makran. The docu? ment has been approved for public release and sale with unlimited distribution but has not apparently been published in the normal sense for sale. Distribution so far seems to have been to an unclassified list of about 100 addresses, mostly Directors of US Service Units and of the institutions which assisted the compiler. Mr. Snead became interested in the Makran in 1957 while on a US Army project. In 1958 he made a reconnaissance boat trip along the coast of West Pakistan, returning to that country in 1959, 1960 and 1961, after which he wrote several papers on that area. He initiated literary researches on the Iranian Makran Area in 1967 and spent two months there in 1968 (during September and October, an uncomfortably warm and humid choice). Travel was restricted to within 150 miles of Chah Bahar/Konarak Bay, the only place where petrol was available. Air photographs were provided by the Geological Survey of Iran, his local sponsor. Financial assistance was given by the Explorers Club of New York. Numerous individuals and organizations in several countries assisted with data accumulation. Two graduate assistants, R. D. Little and R. R. Germann, took part in the field-work, the former contributing a chapter on coastal terraces to the volume and the latter a chapter on beach ridge geomorphology. The volume includes topographical, geological, zoological, botanical, climatalogical and sociological material, and two road logs. It is not easy in most chapters to identify new observations. Mr. Snead's objectives were to describe the Makran coastal region and 'to depict and interpret some physical changes which have taken place during the Quaternary Period'. The latter, a difficult task in a soft rock area where rainfall is sparse but often catastrophic, and local earth movements are still active, has mostly been left to his assistants Little and Germann. Recent uplifts have been confirmed (Appendix F) by radiocarbon dating of 11 shell fragments (by Isotopes, Westwood Laboratories, New Jersey) from coastal accretion features, the ages recorded varying between 7500 bc and more than 40,000 bc. Mr. Snead regards his volume as containing preliminary results of the initial phase of a reconnaissance project. As one might expect from the main sponsorship it is essentially an intelligence compilation in which new observations are swamped by accumulated past records. The work should serve as a valuable vade mecum to anyone about to visit the area for commercial, scientific or other purposes. There have been some changes in the coastal plains during recent years, including the building up of small town centres linked by bus routes, but the general lack of natural resources does not encourage development in such desert conditions. N. L. Falcon