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The Tigris and Euphrates, with their tributaries, form a major river system in Western Asia. From sources in the Taurus mountains of eastern Turkey they flow by/through Syria through Iraq into the Persian Gulf. The system is part of the Palearctic Tigris–Euphrates ecoregion, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. From their sources and upper courses in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, the rivers descend through valleys and gorges to the uplands of Syria and northern Iraq and then to the alluvial plain of central Iraq. The rivers flow in a south-easterly direction through the central plain and combine at Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab and discharge into the Persian Gulf.〔 ==Geography== The ecoregion is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The rivers have several small tributaries which feed into the system from shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes, all surrounded by desert. The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf. Historically, the area is known as Mesopotamia. As part of the larger Fertile Crescent, it saw the earliest emergence of literate urban civilization in the Uruk period, for which reason it is often dubbed the "Cradle of Civilization". In the 1980s, this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran–Iraq War raged within its boundaries. The wetlands of Iraq, which were inhabited by the Marsh Arabs, were almost completely dried out, and have only recently shown signs of recovery. The Tigris–Euphrates Basin is shared by Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Kuwait.〔 Many Tigris tributaries originate in Iran and a Tigris–Euphrates confluence forms part of the Kuwait-Iraq border. Since the 1960s and in the 1970s, when Turkey began the GAP project in earnest, water disputes have regularly occurred in addition to the associated dam's effects on the environment. In addition, Syrian and Iranian dam construction has also contributed to political tension within the basin, particularly during drought. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tigris–Euphrates river system」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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