Composition and Sources of Sand in the Wahiba Sand Sea, Sultanate of Oman

Bibliographic Data

ID8377629
AuthorsPatrick P Pease, Patrick Pease (East Carolina University), Vatche P Tchakerian (Mitchell Institute)
Year2002
Volume92
Issue3
Pages416-434
Publication date2002-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-8306.00297
OpenAlexW2065687166
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited2

The Wahiba Sand Sea in the Sultanate of Oman is composed of two physiographic units that can be roughly divided into northern and southern regions. The Northern Wahiba is predominantly a large megaridge system, whereas the Southern Wahiba mostly comprises linear dunes, sand sheets, and nabkha fields. Although the dunes of the two regions are of different ages, it has previously been hypothesized that their sands were derived primarily from the same source, namely coastal sands. However, mineralogical, geochemical, and grain–size data in this study suggest that the two regions have different sources. The Northern Wahiba sands have a high composition of mafic minerals and came primarily from local wadis that drain the adjacent Hajar Mountains. One of the prominent wadi sources is presently buried under sands of the Southern Wahiba, eliminating it as a current source of the Northern Wahiba. The Southern Wahiba sands have a more mineralogically mature, quartz–rich composition and are derived from separate sources, likely to be the Oman coast or adjacent sabkha plains. Previous researchers used carbonate sand, present throughout the sand sea, to infer that the coast was the major source of sands in the entire sand sea. However, geochemical evidence suggests that the carbonate grains in the sand sea originated from the two contrasting sources along with the other grains. Carbonate grains in the Northern Wahiba are derived from wadis that drain limestones in the Hajar Mountains whereas carbonate grains in the Southern Wahiba are probably reworked from underlying aeolianites and coastal sands. Keywords:: erggeochemistrymineralogysand provenancesand sea

Geography · Physical geography · Aeolian processes and effects · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Marine and environmental studies · Oceanography

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub