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Syr Darya

(Encyclopedia)Syr Darya or Syrdarya both: sēr däryäˈ, –därˈyə [key], ancient Jaxartes or Yaxartes, Pers. Sihun, river, c.1,380 mi (2,220 km) long, flowing through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. On...

brownstone

(Encyclopedia)brownstone, red to brown variety of sandstone. Its unusual color is caused in some instances by the presence of red iron oxide which acts as a cement, binding the sand grains together. Vast thicknesse...

Bahariya

(Encyclopedia)Bahariya or Baharia bäˌhärēˈə [key], oasis (1996 est. pop. 25,000), in the Libyan Desert, central Egypt, c.200 mi (322 km) south-southwest of Alexandria. Connected by numerous caravan routes wit...

Canyonlands National Park

(Encyclopedia)Canyonlands National Park, 337,598 acres (136,679 hectares), SE Utah; est. 1964. Located in a desert region, the park contains a maze of deep canyons and many unusual features carved by wind and water...

sand

(Encyclopedia)sand, rock material occurring in the form of loose, rounded or angular grains, varying in size from .06 mm to 2 mm in diameter, the particles being smaller than those of gravel and larger than those o...

tropics

(Encyclopedia)tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 231⁄2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 231⁄2°S. Every po...

Merv

(Encyclopedia)Merv myĕrf [key], ancient city, in Turkmenistan, in a large oasis of the Kara Kum desert, on the Murgab River. The city, known in antiquity as Margiana, or Antiochia Margiana, was founded in the 3d c...

Mauriac, François

(Encyclopedia)Mauriac, François fräNswäˈ mōryäkˈ [key], 1885–1970, French writer. Mauriac achieved success in 1922 and 1923 with Le Baiser au lépreux and Genitrix (tr. of both in The Family, 1930). Genera...

Abe, Kobo

(Encyclopedia)Abe, Kobo kōˈbō äˈbā [key], pseud. of Kimifusa Abe, 1924–93, Japanese novelist and dramatist. Although Abe trained as a doctor, he never practiced medi...

O'Toole, Peter

(Encyclopedia)O'Toole, Peter (Peter Seamus O'Toole), 1932–2013, British actor, b. Connemara, Ireland, grad. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London (1955). A classical stage actor, he appeared (1955–58) with the ...