The Waters of Euphrates and Tigris

The upper courses are restricted to the valleys and gorges of eastern Anatolia, through which the rivers descend from their sources, lying 6,000 to 10,000 feet (1,800 to 3,000 metres) above sea level. Their middle courses traverse the uplands of northern Syria and Iraq, at elevations varying from 1,200 feet (370 metres) at the foot of the so-called Kurdish Escarpment to 170 feet (50 metres) where the rivers empty onto the plain of central Iraq.