Rub al-Khali desert: description, coordinates. Sandy deserts of the world. Rub al-Khali desert: land covered with sands
Rub al-Khali - big desert on the Arabian Peninsula. She is one of the top five large deserts world, occupying an area of 650 thousand square meters. km. The Rub al-Khali desert is easy to find on the map - it is located on the territory of 4 countries: Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but is rightfully considered a landmark of the UAE, since it occupies most of this state.
General information
Rub al-Khali is not only one of the largest on the planet, it also:
- the largest of the sandy deserts;
- one of the hottest; in July-August the air temperature here often exceeds +50°C, the average maximum in these months is +47°C, and the sand on hot days heats up to +70°C;
- one of the driest - the annual precipitation rate barely reaches 35 mm, while evaporation exceeds 2000 mm;
- According to LifeGlobe, Rub al-Khali is the most beautiful desert in the world.
Previously, the desert was called Fej el-Hadli, which translates as “empty valley.” It is under this name that she is mentioned in manuscripts of the 15th century. Later it began to be called Rab-el-Khali - “empty territory”, “empty land”, even later “rab” was transformed into “rub”; modern name can be translated as “empty quarter.” By the way, in English Rub al-Khali is called Empty quarter. However, in reality, the desert occupies much more than 1/4 of the Arabian Peninsula - almost a third.
From a height, the desert seems almost flat, but the height of its dunes reaches 300 m in some places. Moreover, thanks to the monsoon southwest winds (they are called “kharif” here), crescent-shaped dunes are formed on the tops of the dunes.
The sand here is mainly silicate, in which about 90% is quartz and 10% is feldspar. It is orange-red in color due to the iron oxide coating the feldspar grains.
Desert inhabitants
Despite climatic conditions, in which it would seem simply impossible to survive, the desert is inhabited. Here you can find not only scorpions, snakes and lizards, as one might assume, but also rodents and even larger animals, in particular the bayza antelope, whose weight can reach hundreds of kilograms.
Population
Rub al-Khali was once inhabited: scientists believe that about 5 thousand years ago there were several major cities, including Ubar, which Herodotus and Ptolemy wrote about and which is called the “City of a Thousand Pillars” and the “Atlantis of Sands”.
People still live in the desert: on its territory there are several oases, the most famous of which are, and El-Jiva. The population of the oases is engaged in agriculture and traditional crafts, as well as nomadic cattle breeding - not only camels, but also sheep are bred here.
In the east of Rub al-Khali, large oil and gas deposits were discovered in the second half of the 20th century; the extraction of these minerals is carried out here and now.
Entertainment
Tourists love to ride along the dunes in off-road vehicles - this kind of entertainment is called here. If you stay in one of the oases, you can find other entertainment. For example, ride along the dunes on special boards that resemble surfboards or on skis. ATV racing is also offered. You can visit a stylized Bedouin camp.
By the way, during such walks you can come across many abandoned cars, including SUVs and water carrier trucks, which in the Rub al-Khali desert deliver water to where it is needed. Such landscapes are reminiscent of the scenery for cyberpunk films.
How to visit the desert?
There are many ways to see the desert - both quite “civilized” and even comfortable, and those that not every extreme sports enthusiast will dare to take. For example, an excellent six-lane highway leads from the Liwa oasis.
You can go from Abu Dhabi to Liwa and through Hamim - there is a two-lane road leading there, which is also of very high quality. You can see the desert by driving along the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia. And the bravest ones can book a safari in Rub al-Khali. Visit the desert better in winter– at this time the temperature here is quite comfortable (about +35°C).
Rub al Khali Desert - in Arabic, the deserted quarter of the world. This is the name of the largest sandy desert in the Arabian Peninsula, which extends across Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Its area is 650 thousand square kilometers. From time immemorial, the sea of sand stretching to the very horizon has been a test for all living things. A test that gives either life or death. Almost the entire territory of the United Arab Emirates is covered by desert. In Arabic, the word desert is translated as “sea without water.” The Bedouins have learned to live in this unfriendly land; for all other people this place is a living hell. Grain of sand, the wind tirelessly pours dune after dune, the height of which can reach 300 meters. Despite extremely unfavorable conditions, the Arabian Peninsula has been crossed by trade routes since time immemorial. Moving along the legendary road of myrrh and frankincense, which connected the Mediterranean with Asia, caravans brought precious incense and seasonings from the East. Journey from one seashore to another it lasted long days. Caravans could count on lodging and meals in the villages of nomads. The immutable rules of life in the desert became a code of honor for these people: a traveler must not be denied lodging or food. But, on the other hand, any offense is avenged here according to the law “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
In the second half of the 20th century, civilization reached the Emirates with lightning speed. Where until recently there was nothing but sand, mighty skyscrapers have risen. The camel trails have become eight-lane highways, but the Dubai River, which crosses the city of the same name, is still plied with sailing wooden dhows carrying goods from local traders. Dozens of shops and shopping centers, but the atmosphere of ancient times is still alive. Modernity has changed the people of the Emirates. Pearl divers and camel drivers became serious entrepreneurs and engineers in a short period of one generation. The Islam they profess did not hinder this metamorphosis in any way. After all, the prophet Mohammed himself took part in merchant travels. Hidden beneath the desert sand, oil has made some people millionaires. The sheikhs invest their funds prudently, taking into account the forecast that oil reserves will be depleted in a few decades. And it seems that not a single sheikh knows how to deny himself anything. Like the caliphs of old, oil magnates now live in luxurious palaces drowning in gold. Some of them slept in Bedouin tents 30 years ago. Now their residences resemble palaces from the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.
Since ancient times, traditions of hospitality and sincere faith have been honored here. The norms of relations with neighbors are still determined by the words of the Prophet Mohammed: “A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim and he should neither oppress him nor leave him without help. Whoever helps his brother in his need, Allah will help him in his own need. Whoever relieves a Muslim from any of his sorrows, Allah will relieve him from one of the sorrows of the Day of Resurrection. And whoever covers a Muslim on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will cover him.”
Rub al Khali desert. The route leads from Abu Dhabi to the Liwa Oasis. . At noon, the rusty-red sand heats up to 70°. Only camels can withstand such heat. During the day, their owners leave them to their own devices. Camels look for food and return to their owners in the evening. But tourists, unlike camels, can stand in the open sun for a maximum of 2 minutes. About enough time to take a photo of yourself against the backdrop of the endless Rub al Khali desert. Until recently, the inhospitable Rub al Khali desert deserved the name terra incognita - unknown land. Neither the power of the sultans nor the power of the colonialists extended here. The science of survival in the desert sands has been mastered only by a handful of Bedouins. One of the first Europeans to penetrate the Rub al Khali was a British subject, Wilfrid Thesiger. In his diary, he wrote the following: “In this cruel land you can see such wonderful pictures that there is no equal to them in our climate.” Since engineers came up with all-wheel drive and air conditioning, the desert doesn't seem so scary anymore. But even today it should be treated with respect. Anyone who underestimates the desert is severely punished for it. A dune decorated with desert roses. These unusual shapes made of gypsum and sand, resembling flowers in appearance, appeared due to the strong evaporation of groundwater. These holes were caused by moisture. The darker sand is overgrown with gypsum crystals. Desert roses are created underground. Over time, the wind opens them. This specimen is over a thousand years old. A desert rose of this size costs several thousand euros. These stone flowers are considered a valuable trophy. They are hunted by fossil collectors. Our guide hides the valuable specimen behind a tuft of grass so that he has something to show other tourists.
Rub al Khali is a huge desert, which the Arabs call the “desert quarter of the world.” Even in such an inhospitable place, traces of life can be found. Quite stunted, but still. Individual stems desperately fight for life in a sea of hot sand. But one of the winners is an inconspicuous blade of creeping Tribulus grass. This is life. It seems that the heat does not bother the dromedaries at all. Meeting another living creature in the desert does not happen often. Some of the animals show curiosity, others do not waste time on identification and move away to a safe distance. One of Arabian tales tells of a magical place somewhere among the moving dunes, in which trees should grow, providing shelter to hundreds of birds and animals. There must also be a rock from which water gushes out and then collects in an underground lake. In Arabic, this place is called Al Maha, just like the white Arabian orex antelope, which has almost disappeared these days.
Continuing the theme of the previous post, Today I decided to publish the material that I prepared with my daughter for school for a report on the world around me.
"As you know, the UAE is located on an area covered with sand, i.e. in the desert, namely The Rub al-Khali desert is the most lifeless desert in the world, but it is in the sands of this desert that the largest and modern city. And its name is Dubai.
One of the largest, hottest, flat and dry deserts in the world is the desert Rub al-Khali. Translated from Arabic it means “empty place”, it is also called the “Great Sandy Desert”. If you look at it through an airplane window, it might seem that someone covered a huge area with sand and leveled everything.
This vast sandy desert is located in the Middle East, occupies a third of the Arabian Peninsula, on the territory of the states: Saudi Arabia, Oman, United States United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
The average temperature in July-August is 47 degrees Celsius, about 35 mm of precipitation falls in just a year, sometimes precipitation may not fall for more than five years.
Interesting fact:
Do you know that this desert is green in winter? Why? Because due to the fact that groundwater is located very close to the surface (less than 10 meters) and the sun is not so hot, plants and small shrubs come to life, leaves appear on them, and therefore, looking at the desert, we see a green carpet in front of us.
This is especially pronounced in the UAE, the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
Scientists have different opinions regarding the area of the desert. To date, the exact area of the Rub al-Khali desert has not been established.
Mystery:
Square Sverdlovsk region equal to 195,000 sq. km., which less area the Rub al-Khali desert by 4 times. How much area does the desert cover?
According to various estimates, its area ranges from 650,000 to 780,000 sq. km. These are four of the Sverdlovsk region.
Most of the desert consists of absolutely lifeless quicksand. And due to the fact that sand contains a lot of iron, the desert acquires red and orange colors.
Interesting fact:
Sometimes you can see moving sands, or also called wandering dunes, turning red-orange in color to white.
Shifting sands (wandering dunes) are sands that are not fixed by the root system of plants and easily move under the influence of wind.
Interesting fact:
Moreeb Dune is one of the largest dunes in the world. Its height reaches 300m, width 1600m, and the slope angle is 50 degrees. At the end of December - beginning of January, the Moreeb Dune Cars and Bikes Championship is held here.
In the east there are vast salt marshes, and therefore oil and natural gas deposits, which are considered the largest in the world.
Salt marshes are soils that contain a large number of easily soluble salts. Easily soluble salts can be compared to dissolving ordinary salt in boiling water.
In places where groundwater emerges, there are oases, including the largest - Al Ain (“Spring”) and Liwa, which are located on the territory of the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
The population is mainly Arabs. Bedouin camel breeders roam along the outskirts of the desert.
Interesting fact:
The first to describe this desert was the British traveler Wilfrid Thesiger. He was one of the first Europeans to invade the great desert in the mid-20th century.
The vegetation in these areas is poor. Mainly camel thorns and solyanka. Yes and animal world- not so full of variety. There are few animals in the desert. Mainly various species of gerbils, camels, jerboas, snakes and scorpions.
Most of the animals and birds can be found closer to the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula.
Interesting fact:
In the emirate of Sharjah (UAE), a “Desert Park” has been created, where representatives of all the fauna that inhabit the Rub al-Khali are collected, and there are more than a hundred of its species, among which you can even find the beiza antelope. It has straight cone-shaped horns. The weight of such an antelope reaches 100 kilograms.
There are many myths and legends associated with this desert. The main and most widespread legend tells about the “Atlantis of the Sands” - ancient city Ubar, which ceased to exist sometime in the 4th century AD. All attempts by archaeological scientists to find this city were unsuccessful; it completely disappeared both from sight and from historical chronicles.
About this unique, powerful and prosperous city, which the ancient Greeks, Herodotus and Ptolemy, wrote about in their chronicles. Ubar was shrouded in an aura of legends that spoke of flying snakes, immortality, etc.
But a legend that still attracts many people says that this city houses countless, fabulous treasures of the Arabs. But due to the fact that the inhabitants were treacherous, dissolute, deceitful and wicked, the city was destroyed - wiped off the face of the earth."
Here is the report. And in addition there is a video.
Rub al-Khali desert(English: Empty quarter) is located in the south of the United Arab Emirates. More precisely, in the south its small Northern part, and the rest is in Saudi Arabia. Rub al-Khali desert- This world's largest sand desert. And I ask you, do not confuse it with the Sahara! Rub al-Khali is the largest sandy desert! I mean, this is the largest area covered with sand! Summer temperatures here are over 50 degrees Celsius, winters are colder - about 30 degrees Celsius.
To the desert itself Rub al-Khali You can get there in three ways:
- The first and simplest is through Abu Dhabi along a luxurious 6-lane highway that ends at Liwa oasis. Oasis is located just on the very border of the desert.
- The second path is also as simple as two kopecks and goes along highway from Abu Dhabi through Hamim(Hameem) to the Liwa oasis. The road is simpler, but still two lanes, wonderful asphalt, and the trucks are taken to a separate road that runs parallel 50 meters away.
- And the third option is the most interesting - through El Ein, along the border with Oman, then along the border with Saudi Arabia and then across the desert to the side Liwa oasis. That is, drive not from the north to the desert, but drive as far as possible from the south through the desert itself.
From El Eina the Liwa oasis is a little less than 400 kilometers away. Without gas stations, the distance is about 250 kilometers. We have the car Chevrolet Spark. Gas tank 35 liters. Fill the neck with 98 gasoline. We take the essentials with us - sleeping bags for spending the night in the car, a supply of water, a supply of food. Last gas station in the village Al Kua.
The sand dunes are getting higher and there is less and less vegetation. Camels are also becoming increasingly rare. But this is not a desert yet. This is an ordinary landscape United Arab Emirates, which, by the way, is passed off to all tourists as desert when riding in jeeps in the suburbs Dubai for 50 dollars. And tourists naively believe that they have been on a real desert safari. But no! There is only one real desert safari in the United Arab Emirates - in the desert Rub al-Khali!
We are driving along the border with Oman - a solid fence on the left and huge tracking stations on solar powered every 3-4 kilometers.
The road is excellent, in some places there are repair zones with a detour on gravel roads. Moreover, they repair the road where only small cracks have appeared on the asphalt and do not repair it with “pothole repair”, but completely remove the asphalt covering and do everything all over again! The weather is sunny and quite hot outside, about 30 degrees (yes, yes! It's the middle of January!). Fortunately, there is air conditioning in the car! And now the navigator point shows that we are at a bend in the road. To our left Oman, directly Saudi Arabia, on right United Arab Emirates. Class! Are we really here??? The mood is positive, the road is ideal, we keep the speed at about 100 km/h, stopping periodically to take photographs.
Do you know what happens when you drive on the road in a snowstorm? Clouds of snow dust rise behind the car. The sand has also started to curl up here! We pass some border point with clearly border Nissan Patrol sandy color and matte painting. They look very impressive! The best thing would probably be to chase illegal immigrants from Oman through the desert. The road is blocked by concrete blocks in a checkerboard pattern and painted red, but you can go around them. Some signs are red, but everything is written there in Arabic, although they are usually duplicated in English. We drive carefully without stopping. There is no one nearby. There seems to be no chase either, which means we can move on!
The sun is getting lower! Dream to meet sunset in the desert, apparently will become a reality today! Now we are already driving through the desert! A real desert, and not heaps of sand with thorns and small bushes, as is the case throughout the country. There are huge sand dunes here, absolutely no vegetation, and the color of the sand is not light yellow, but something with an orange tint at sunset! The road, a strip of black asphalt, goes beyond the horizon. I press on the gas pedal to drive deeper into the desert, and then climb some sand dune to watch the sunset!
And suddenly, after a hill and a turn, I slow down. The road ends. And it’s simple: here there’s perfect asphalt, and then there’s just a direction on the sand. You can even see that cars drive here periodically: D. Now an understanding arises in my head of why only jeeps came towards us, and then very rarely!
We don’t think for a long time, because there are only two reasonable options. What would most people do in this situation?
- They wouldn't have gone to the desert in a minicar in the first place.
- They would turn around and go back, seeing that there was no further road
An hour and a half later, tired but incredibly happy, we returned 5 kilometers back and turned towards the border with Saudi Arabia, which runs two kilometers from the main road. Yes, the road is paved, but after a couple of kilometers we come across a huge barbed wire fence. A bunch of red signs in Arabic and among them one in English. "Traffic and passage are strictly prohibited! Closed territory!". Along the fence there is an asphalt road with sandy tracks, one and a half meters wide. Looks more like a sidewalk. There is a hill ahead. We decide to get to it, pretending that we didn’t notice the signs. We went upstairs. There is a huge tracking station, the road goes down and far ahead goes up again. All along the border fence. I look at the maps on the navigator - yes, apparently we will almost get to the right place along this road, but there we will have to turn and there will be 7 kilometers of unknown, and most likely there will not be a road there, but only a direction through the sand dunes. It's almost dark outside. Plus they remembered about the prohibition signs. The laws in the Emirates are harsh... We've already had enough adventures! That's probably enough for today. The plan was to spend the night here, but we unanimously decided to turn around and go back. There is hope to find another road without going back too far to civilization, but I’m already mentally prepared for a detour of several hundred kilometers.
In general, the road in the desert is very difficult to compare with anything else. She's completely different! The closest association that comes to mind is snow, snow blizzards, snow drifts, poor visibility at night during a snowstorm. Only it's not snow! This is sand that can change appearance deserts very quickly and calmly, absorbing anything in its path
Another busy day was coming to an end. It was not possible to drive quickly, because the rising sandstorm literally blocked the entire view and in the headlights only a wall of sand was visible. Visibility tended to zero and did not exceed 10-20 meters, sand was everywhere, and gusts of wind rocked the car very unpleasantly.
And also about finding the road, spending the night, fog in the desert and the highest sand dune in the world in a separate article the day after tomorrow.
A significant part of the Arabian Peninsula is occupied by probably the driest desert in the world. It was called Rub al-Khali. In Arabic, the name of the desert means “empty place.” If you look at it through an airplane window, it might seem that someone covered a huge area with sand and leveled everything. This is truly a flat desert. Although there are also some hills 200-300m high in the form of dunes and sand hills. It occupies the southeastern territory of the Arabian Peninsula with an area of 600 thousand km2. The Rub al-Khali desert is divided between four Arab states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen.
But was the now deserted place on the Arabian Peninsula always lifeless? Not at all. Studying this territory from satellites, American scientists confirmed the existing hypothesis that several cities flourished on the site of the desert approximately five thousand years ago, including Ubar, which is also called the City of a Thousand Pillars. The Rub al-Khali desert is not completely lifeless even now. Despite the fact that the climate here is tropical with little rainfall (about 55 mm falls per year), water can sometimes be found at a depth of 10 meters. It is assumed that a whole network of rivers is buried under the sands.
There are oases in the desert. The largest are Liwa and Al Ain. But the most picturesque, perhaps, is El Jiva, which stretches for 50 km.
The vegetation in these areas is poor. Mainly camel thorns and solyanka. And the animal world is not so replete with diversity. It seems that besides camels, jerboas, snakes and scorpions, there is no one to meet. But that's not true. In the Desert Park created in the emirate of Sharjah, they decided to gather representatives of the entire animal world inhabiting the Rub al-Khali, and counted more than a hundred of its species, among which you can even find the beiza antelope. It has straight cone-shaped horns. The weight of such an antelope reaches 100 kilograms.
The population in the desert is nomadic and breeds camels. The main wealth of the eastern part of the Rub al-Khali desert is, of course, oil and gas fields.