'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎41v] (72/96)

56
*
soluble Bitumen, 3*7% free Carbon and 0-30% mineral Ash, and
stated that' it is doubtless an oxidation product of petroleum
He gave a further analysis of bituminous Sandstone from the same
locality (in Makalla) as follows: 19-1% soluble Bitumen, 1 * 40 /
free Carbon and 79-5% mineral Ash, and stated: ‘This is evidently a
Sandstone richly impregnated with bituminous or oil matter
The mineral contained 80-8% of Silica and 19-2% of oxides of Iron
Aluminium and Manganese. There is a close resemblance in the
composition of the bituminous Sandstone of the El Sidara locality
and the materials from the Ghaiz and Ansarit exposures, except
that the Dhufar material is slightly higher in mineral Ash, but this
may be a mere accident, and as Mr. Little says of the occurrence of
this class of substance, it ‘... is an indication that petroleum
existed at a former period and may still exist at greater depth \ I
shall discuss this subject of a search for oil in the next section of this
report, as the question of the origin of the oil, its normal geological
horizon in Arabia and surrounding countries, and the structure of the
strata in which ‘oil sands’ usually occur, must be carefully considered
for the province of Dhufar.
89. I was not aware of any special clay as regularly used in the
preparing of earthenware pottery by the people of Salalah, Hafa etc!
Indeed from what I saw it seemed that they used imported Chinaware
cups and plates, and skins or canvas chaguls for holding water. The
subject of a good pottery clay might be taken up after Dhufar has
been opened up by mineral and agricultural development. Some
of the soil or sub-soil clays appear suitable for earthenware as well
as for onek-makmg, but with so much soft freestone available (not
to speak of the dressed stone in the ruins of El Balad and other
places) there is no demand for bricks.
the Ha d nun "and^fh; EXC6Pt w VeinS ° f Salt in the Limestone of
me bv sTeik 4i1 hlT 6 f f m ° re massive sam P le br °ught
. > k Sail bin Garwah from somewhere north-west of
Hanun, I encountered no deposits of rock salt during m v tour in
Dhufar nor were specimens or samples produced for my inspection'
and, so I am obliged to say that workable deposits of Lck salt do
not appear to be present in the province of Dhufar Nor is there
any spring or well of strong brine available this side of the Neid
rrL J s dS !?^ by ^J 5001 of the Mugshin, on the edge of Ar RiSal