Editing Geography of Saudi Arabia (section)

===Najd===
East of the Hejaz and Asir lies the great plateau area of [[Najd]]. This region is mainly rocky plateau interspersed by small, sandy deserts and isolated mountain clumps. The best known of the mountain groups is the [[Shammar Mountains|Jabal Shammar]], northwest of [[Riyadh]] and just south of the [[Nafud desert|An Nafud]]. This area is the home of the pastoral [[Shammar]] tribes, which under the leadership of the [[Rashidi dynasty|Al Rashid]] were the most implacable foes of the [[House of Saud|Al Saud]] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their capital was the large oasis of [[Ḥaʼil|Ha'il]], now a flourishing urban center.

Across the peninsula as a whole, the plateau slopes toward the east from an elevation of 1,360 meters in the west to 750 meters at its easternmost limit. Wadis cross the region in an eastward direction from the Red Sea escarpment toward the Persian Gulf. There is little pattern to these remains of ancient riverbeds; the most important of them are [[Wadi Hanifa]], [[Wadi ar Rummah]], Wadi as Surr, and [[Wadi ad-Dawasir]].

The heart of Najd is the area of the Jabal Tuwayq, an arc-shaped ridge with a steep west face that rises between 100 and 250 meters above the plateau. Many oases exist in this area, the most important of which are [[Buraydah]], [[Unayzah]], [[Riyadh]], and [[Al Kharj]]. Outside the oasis areas, Najd is sparsely populated. Large salt marshes ([[Sabkha|sabkah]]) are scattered throughout the area.