Editing Geography of Oman (section)

==Location==
Oman is located in the southeastern quarter of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] and covers a total land area of {{cvt|309,500|km2}}. The land area is composed of varying [[topography|topographic]] features: [[valley]]s and [[desert]] account for 82 percent of the land mass; mountain ranges, 15 percent; and the coastal plain, 3 percent. The [[sultanate]] is flanked by the [[Gulf of Oman]], the [[Arabian Sea]], and the [[Rub' al Khali]] (Empty Quarter) of [[Saudi Arabia]], all of which contributed to Oman's isolation. Historically, the country's contacts with the rest of the world were by sea, which not only provided access to foreign lands but also linked the coastal towns of Oman. The Rub' al-Khali, difficult to cross even with modern desert transport, formed a barrier between the sultanate and the Arabian interior. The [[Hajar Mountains]],<ref name="Allen2016">{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Calvin H. Jr. |title=Oman: the Modernization of the Sultanate |publisher=[[Routledge]] |chapter=1: Land and People |pages=1–8 |isbn=978-1-3172-9164-0 |location=Abingdon, New York City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlmFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |date=5 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Cavendish2007">{{cite book |last1=Cavendish |first1=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Cavendish |title=World and Its Peoples |volume=1 |date=2007 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing |isbn=978-0-7614-7571-2 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C&q=mountains}}</ref> which form a belt between the coast and the desert from the [[Musandam Peninsula]] (Ras Musandam) to the city of [[Sur, Oman|Sur]], almost at Oman's easternmost point,<ref name="AF EHajar">{{cite web |publisher=Arabic Felix |title=The Eastern Hajar Mountains |url=http://www.oman.de/en/about-oman/geography/eastern-hajar/ |access-date=17 January 2019}}</ref> formed another barrier. These geographic barriers kept the interior of Oman free from foreign military encroachments. The southwestern corner of Oman's exclusive economic zone is situated a few miles off the [[Puntland]]-adjacent Yemeni archipelago of [[Socotra]], which lies amidst the [[Guardafui Channel]] and the Somali Sea to the south.<ref>Jabado, Rima W., et al. "Troubled waters: Threats and extinction risk of the sharks, rays and chimaeras of the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters." Fish and Fisheries 19.6 (2018): 1043–1062.</ref>