'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎25r] (39/96)

2^
25
g west
9 or 10
cached
ait bay
s never
These
is) and
race.
5 trees
'Othk).
e pool.
I was
i of the
illey in
h grass
regular
barely
)ecause
run-off
tid and
igh the
After
south-
[ a few
id and
estone,
iceous.
l grade
e hills,
Lizat a
i called
where
je pool
enters,
i along
ng the
of the
about
hour),
gallons
ins for
ring to
about
i water
dl-the-
♦
year-round figure. During the rains the Rizat will carry floods of
great magnitude and the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. will have a stream for some weeks
after the end of September, but that is all excess and could be
conserved.
47. Next morning (11th February) I went south to Mahmulah
to meet the Sultan at his 'shooting camp’. On the way I noticed
that the aqueduct had been tapped to irrigate a small grove of
cocoanut palms, which it did generously. I took measurements near
Mahmulah and found the channel carrying less than 9 cusecs (or
half the amount that it takes off near the pool). Much of this loss
is due to tapping for the cocoanut grove above Mahmulah, but an
appreciable amount is certainly due to leakage. I gave His
Highness a brief report of my tour and explained that I could not
go into details until my specimens were analyzed and properly
examined or identified. He was very interested and showed me
some more samples that had been collected while I had been on tour.
These I examined with the Sultan after breakfast, and then I drove
to Murbat to continue my investigations there, particularly with
regard to a reported occurrence of oil in some brownish argillaceous
sandstone on the shore of the bay north of Murbat. The Assistant
Private Secretary, Mohammad Amin Salim, came with me, but after
seeing me properly housed in the Sultan’s guest house he returned
to Salalah, whither the Sultan had returned. I was not able to
follow the geology while driven by car; I shall return to this matter
when discussing our return journey from Murbat on the 13th
February. The Sultan’s chief officer at Murbat is Sheik Ali bin
Salim. He was soon with me and explained that the Galena (lead
ore) locality was Garat Athetate, but it was more than a day’s journey
away and the man who knew the locality was ill of pneumonia.
48. We visited the 'oil' seepage, but the tide was wrongly
timed and the place was awash. However, I examined the rocks
and we calculated the best time for our further visit. This would
be about 9 a.m. and we decided to come on the 13th. Meanwhile
I examined the low hills immediately north of Murbat and was very
surprised to find metamorphic rocks—impure marbles, serpentinous
material, amphibolite and some gneissose granite—very mixed up,
but having a general north-east to south-west strike and north
westerly dips. Both the strike and dip varies in short distances.
South-east of these low hills (Jabal Ali?), there is a wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. from which
the people of Murbat get water in shallow wells less than 12 feet
deep, but the places are dirty and the water is saline. Between this
wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. and the town, south and eastwards, there are exposures,
perhaps 8 to 10 feet thick, of Miliolitic limestones. These rocks are
quarried for building purposes. The main part of the rocky plain
east of Murbat, on which is the Emergency Landing Ground, consists
of banded gneisses trending almost north and south and practically