Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1979

Abstract

The Wahiba Sands occur in a pear-shaped depression along the coast of northeastern Oman. They are bordered on thel north, south and west by predominantly limestone highlands. Muiti-spectral Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images and Radarsat-1 data were used to characterize the sands and the surrounding region between 19-23.5°N and 56.5-60'E. This included mapping surface drainage, faults and fractures, radar- revealed palaeodrainage, and aeolian features. Based on the remote sensing perspective, a new model is proposed for their evolution. In this model, the primary sand sources are deposits from the principal wadis that drain into the Wahiba basin from the surrounding highlands. Fluvially reworked fault zones define the shape of the basin causing the northeastern and| southwestern margins to be linear. During dry climates, wind became the principal modification regime and it began to shape and sort the fluvially deposited sand into the dunes and the sand sheets that characterize the Wahiba region, The thickness of the sands appears to reflect the depth of the basin in which they lie The center of the basin is filled with the thickest sand (the High Sands). and the southern basin is filled with less sand (the Low Sands). The Peripheral Sands lie at structurally defined margins and are associated with alternating fluvial and aeolian processes. Today. aeolian reworking dominates in the Wahiba region, although the Low and Peripheral Sands continua to experience some fluvial action from occasional, seasonal rainfall.

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