Aleppo plateau

The Aleppo plateau lies immediately north of the Palmyra mountain belt.

To the west it is bounded by the northern half of the Dead Sea Rift, namely the Orontes river valley.

The average elevation of the plateau is 400 m. The surface gradually slopes down in north-south and west-east directions.

The lowlands are covered with combined Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments that average 4–5 km in thickness over the whole surface.

The southeastern portion of the plateau is an arid steppe that forms the northern tip of the Syrian Desert.

The plateau is generally deforested except for a dispersed forest of about 50 km2 on the eastern slope of Mount Kurd where it faces the plain of Aʻzāz.