Kuwait

Abstract

Kuwait is a small country of 17,818 km² located between Saudi Arabia and Iraq at the head of the Arabian Gulf (Fig. 1). Its northern boundary is the Shatt al Arab, the terrigenous delta of the Tigris-Euphrates River. Much of the country’s undeveloped shoreline flanks 2 distributary channels of the delta around Bubiyan Island. Tucked into the land below the delta is a 25 km wide embayment, Kuwait Bay, which has been the historical center of development. The north shoreline is dominated by the Jal az Zoar escarpment and broad intertidal flats which exist because of a plentiful sediment supply and moderately high tide range of 3.5 m. The southern shoreline of Kuwait Bay, where almost 50% of the population live, consists of a series of perched beaches and low headlands formed of intertidal coral rock. Ras al Ardh (Fig. 1), the most prominent headland, marks the division between Kuwait Bay and the Arabian Gulf. South of Ras al Ardh, the Kuwait shoreline forms a series of shallow embayments between cuspate forelands. Carbonate sediments typical of the lower gulf increase in abundance toward the south, away from the clastics of the Shatt al Arab.