| Hijaz | |
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| Hejaz | |
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| Elevation | 2,100 m (6,890 ft) |
| Location | |
The Hijaz or Hejaz range of mountains is located in the Hejaz region, close to the western coast of Saudi Arabia. The western coastal escarpment is composed of two mountain ranges, the Hijaz and the Asir, with a gap between them near the middle of the peninsula's coastline. From an elevation of 2100 meters (6000 feet), the range declines towards the vicinity of the gap about 600 meters, The mountain wall drops abruptly on the western side toward the Red Sea, leaving little or no coastal plain. The eastern slopes are not as steep, allowing rare rainfall to help create oases around the springs and wells of the few wadis.
The Hijaz mountain area includes the Cradle of Gold (Mahd adh Dhahab), the only known Arabian source for workable quantities of gold. Additionally the Hijaz has been conjectured as the source of the Pishon River, that was described as one of the four rivers associated with the Garden of Eden. This is a component in the research of Juris Zarins that locates the Garden of Eden at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf near Kuwait. The course of the now dried up river course (modern-day Wadi Al-Rummah and its extension Wadi Al-Batin) was identified by Farouk El-Baz of Boston University and named the Kuwait River. This tracks north-east across the Saudi desert for 600 miles and follows Wadi Al-Batin to the Gulf. The 'Kuwait River' and the Hejaz region is estimated to have dried up 2,500–3000 years ago.[1]