'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎16r] (21/96)

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II. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Hills and River System
11. A glance at any of the maps that have been referred to in
paragraph 7, more particularly the A.A.F. Flight Chart, Salalah,
Arabia to Jiwani, India, No. 108, 1 : 1,000,000, and those of G.S.G.S.,
Asia Sheets, 1 : 1,000,000, of 1945, shows a strip of high ground,
attaining elevations of upwards of 3,500 feet and in places roughly
4,000 feet, extending westwards from Ras Hasik (on the west side
of Kuria Muria bay) for 150 miles beyond the longitude of Ras
Dharbat ‘Ali (roughly 53 degrees East). In the east this high
ground makes the Jabal Samhan, the steep southern scarp of which
overlooks the gneissic plain of Murbat from the north. In the
middle the upland region is called the Jabal Qara, which rises
abruptly from the 10 miles wide coastal plain of Dhufar, but falls
away far less rapidly to the north into the Nejd. To the west, the
watershed merges into the Jabal Qamar. Except for two re
entrant valleys—one at the west of the Jabal Samhan and the other
to the east of the Jabal Qamar—most of the rain precipitated on the
elevated land mentioned above has a northern run-off. The rocks
exposed along the watershed are limestones of bedded formations
which appear to slope (dip) to the southward along the southern side
and to the northward along the northern side of the Qara mountains
in Dhufar.
12. According to the maps provided by Bertram Thomas and
the Bents, the rivers or wadis flowing to the sea in Dhufar south
of the watershed of the Qara mountains or A1 Qutun are, from the
east, as follows: the Fulk north-north-west of Murbat; at least
three unnamed wadis between Murbat bay and the Khor or lake
of Rori near Takah; the Darbat into the Khor or inlet of Rori;
next the Tabraq followed by the Hamran, and then the important
Rizat wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. which continues south past Mahmulah to Rizat on the
coast. West of the Rizat there is some confusion of names and
courses (in the maps). Bertram Thomas recognizes three tributaries
—Sa’a Sakh, Raithot and Thidot—as coming together above a water-
hole or pool at Sahalnaut, and some miles below this the stream
(presumably as the Sahalnaut) is joined (from the w r est) by the
Arbat. He also shows two tributaries from the north to the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Darbat, both joining the main river somewhat north of the lake
of Darbat (in the valley above the travertine cliffs or abyss of Dahaq).
The next wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. west of the Arbat is the Garzaz, and then, draining