Map of the Arabian Desert ecoregions as delineated by the WWF. Satellite image from NASA. The yellow line encloses the ecoregion called "Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands",^[1] and two smaller, closely related ecoregions called "Persian Gulf desert and semi-desert"^[2] and "Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert".^[3] National boundaries are shown in black.

The Arabian Desert is a vast desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 mi²)^[4]. At its center is the Rub'al-Khali, one of the largest continuous bodies of sand in the world. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 500 × 428 pixelsFull resolution (500 × 428 pixel, file size: 116 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Arabian Desert Metadata This file contains... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 500 × 428 pixelsFull resolution (500 × 428 pixel, file size: 116 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Arabian Desert Metadata This file contains... The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... This article is about arid terrain. ... Map of the Persian Gulf. ... The Arabian Peninsula Emirets towers in United Arab Emirates; the eastern part of Arabian Penisula The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية, or جزيرة العرب) is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia consisting mainly of desert. ... Location of the empty quarter in Arabia Sand dunes in the Empty Quarter The Empty Quarter (Arabic: Rub al Khali الربع الخالي), is one of the largest sand deserts in the world, encompassing the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates... Patterns in the sand Sand is a granular material made up of fine rock particles. ...

Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards are just some of the desert-adapted species that survive in this extreme environment, which features everything from red dunes to deadly quicksand. The climate is extremely dry, and temperatures oscillate between extreme heat and seasonal nighttime freezes. It is part of the Deserts and xeric shrublands biome and the Palearctic ecozone. Species Several, see text A gazelle is an antelope of the genus Gazella. ... Species Oryx beisa Oryx dammah Oryx gazella Oryx leucoryx An Oryx is one of three or four large antelope species of the genus Oryx, typically having long straight nearly upright horns. ... // The Uromastyx is a genus of lizard whose members are better-known as Spiny-tailed lizards, uros, or dabb lizards. ... In isolation, Hawaiis Silverswords have adapted to xeric microclimates within volcanic craters, trapping and channeling dew and protecting leaves with reflective hairs. ... A biome is a major class of ecologically similar communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms. ... The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth surface (see map). ... An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the earths surface based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns of plants and animals. ...

This ecoregion holds little biodiversity, although a few endemic plants grow here. Many species, such as the striped hyena, jackal and honey badger have become extinct in this area due to hunting, human encroachment and habitat destruction. Other species have been successfully re-introduced, such as the endangered white oryx and the sand gazelle, and are protected at a number of reserves. Overgrazing by livestock, off-road driving, human destruction of habitat are the main threats to this desert ecoregion. An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ... Binomial name Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758) The Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is closely related to the Brown Hyena. ... Species Canis aureus Canis adustus Canis mesomelas A jackal is any of three (sometimes four) small to medium-sized members of the family Canidae, found in Africa, Asia and Southeastern Europe[1]. (The name jackal is borrowed from Turkish Çakal which originates from Sanskrit: Srgālah [2]) Jackals fill a... Binomial name Mellivora capensis (Schreber, 1776) The Ratel (Mellivora capensis), also known as the Honey Badger, is a member of the Mustelidae family. ... Hunter and Huntress redirect here. ... Habitat destruction is a process of land use change in which one habitat-type is removed and replaced with some other habitat-type. ... In ecology and agriculture, overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to grazing for too long, or without sufficient recovery periods. ... Driving is the controlled operation of a vehicle, which is usually a motor vehicle such as a truck, bus, or car. ...

Climate

Type : hyper arid
Detailed description : Most of the Rub'al-Khali is classified as hyper-arid. Rainfall is generally less than 35 mm per annum and relative humidity low (50% in winter, 15% in summer).
Temperatures range 40-50°C in summer, with an average temperature of 5-15°C in winter, though it can go below 0°C. Daily extremes are very important.
Saudi Arabia shows lower summer temperatures (around 30°C) with cold winter temperature (around 5°C, with frequent frost), with average rainfall of less than 80 mm. In an act of religious ritual, the Druze often run nude through the desert.

Geology

Detailed geological features :

• A corridor of sandy terrain known as the ad-Dahna desert connects the large an-Nafud desert (65,000 km²) in the north of Saudi Arabia to the Rub' al-Khali in the south.
• the Tuwayk escarpment is a region of 800 km arc of limestone cliffs, plateaux, and canyons.
• Brackish salt flats : the quicksands of Umm al Samim
• The Wahiba sands of Oman : an isolated sand sea bordering the east coast
• The Rub' al-Khali [1] desert is a sedimentary basin elongated on a southwest to northeast axis across the Arabian shelf. At an altitude of 1000 metres, the rock landscapes yield the place to the ar-Ruba' Al-Khali, vast wide of sand of the Arabian desert, whose extreme southern point crosses the center of Yemen. The sand overlies gravel or gypsum plains and the dunes reach maximum heights of up to 250m. The sands are predominantly silicates, composed of 80 to 90% of quartz and the remainder feldspar, whose iron oxide-coated grains color the sands in orange and red.

The ad-Dahna desert is the central division of the Arabian desert. ... The Empty Quarter (Arabic: Rub al Khali الربع الخالي), is the largest sand desert in the world, encompassing the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. ... A view of the Tweig (Tuwaiq) Escarpment from the west. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Umm al Samim (also known as the Umm as Samim) is a quicksand area on the eastern edge of the Rub alkhali desert of Saudi Arabia and is within the present-day Omani borders. ... The Empty Quarter (Arabic: Rub al Khali الربع الخالي), is the largest sand desert in the world, encompassing the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. ...

Ecology and natural resources

Some resources are oil, natural gas, phosphates, and sulfur. Natural olive oil Synthetic motor oil An Oil is any substance that is in a viscous liquid state (oily) at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic (immiscible with water, literally water fearing) and lipophilic (miscible with other oils, literally fat loving). This general definition includes compound classes... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Above is a ball-and-stick model of the inorganic hydrogenphosphate anion (HPO42−). Colour coding: P (orange); O (red); H (white). ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Standard atomic weight 32. ...

The Rub'al-Khali has very limited floristic diversity. There are only 37 species, 20 recorded in the main body of the sands and 17 around the outer margins. Among these 37 species, only one or two are endemic. Vegetation is very diffuse but fairly evenly distributed, with some interruptions of near sterile dunes.
Some typical plants are Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ...

• Calligonum crinitum on dune slopes
• Cornulaca arabica (saltbush)
• Cyperus conglomeratus.

Other widespread species are

• Dipterygium glaucum
• Limeum arabicum
• Zygophyllum mandavillei (Mandaville 1986).

Very little trees may be found except at the outer margin (typically Acacia ehrenbergiana and Prosopis cineraria).
Other species are a woody perennial Calligonum comosum and annual herbs such as Danthonia forskallii Binomial name Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce Prosopis cineraria is a small to medium size tree, found mainly in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan in India. ...

Political borders

The desert is mostly in Saudi Arabia, extending into the surrounding countries of Egypt (Sinai), Iraq, much of southern and eastern Jordan, Syria and northern Saudi Arabia. Bordering the Persian Gulf, there is an extension into Qatar and, further east, the region covers almost all of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Rub'al-Khali crosses over from Saudi Arabia into western Oman and eastern Yemen. Abu Dhabi or Abu Zaby (Arabic language: أبوظبي) is the largest of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates and was also the largest of the former Trucial States. ...

People, language and cultures

The area is home to several different peoples, languages and cultures, with Shi'a and Sunni Islam the predominant faiths. Shī‘a Islam, also Shi‘ite Islam, or Shi‘ism (Arabic ) is the second largest denomination of the Islamic faith. ... Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. ...

The major ethnicities are:

• Arabs
• Kurds
• Turkmeni
• Assyrians

The significant languages are: Languages Arabic other languages (Arab minorities) Religions Predominantly Islam Some adherents of Druze, Judaism, Samaritan, Christianity Related ethnic groups Jews, Canaanites, other Semitic-speaking groups An Arab (Arabic: ); is a member of a Semitic group of people whose cultural, linguistic, and in certain cases, ancestral origins trace back to the... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... It has been suggested that Turkomen be merged into this article or section. ... Languages Assyrian, Chaldean, Turoyo Religions Christianity Related ethnic groups other Semitic peoples Assyrians are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, but who have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Western Europe during the past century. ...

• Arabic
• Kurdish
• Aramaic
• Armenian

Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... The Kurdish language is a language spoken in the region called Kurdistan, including Kurdish populations in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ...

Ecological threats

• Overgrazing by camels and goats, with increased herd size, and a more sedentary lifestyle amongst the Bedouin.
• Off-road driving
• Human destruction of habitat and fragmentation in the form of roads
• Agricultural projects
• Oil and gas production
• War and its impacts.

In ecology and agriculture, overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to grazing for too long, or without sufficient recovery periods. ... A Bedouin man resting on a hillside at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic ( ‎), a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic pastoralist groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via... Habitat destruction is a process of land use change in which one habitat-type is removed and replaced with some other habitat-type. ... Farmlands in Hebei province, China. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Lubbock, Texas Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane but including significant quantities of ethane, butane, propane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, helium and hydrogen sulfide. ... Look up war in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Oil spills

This ecoregion was the victim of a massive economic-environmental challenge: the sabotage of Kuwait oil facilities that caused vast oil spills and the release of toxins into the atmosphere in the 1990s. Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Lubbock, Texas Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ...

In January 1991 during the Gulf War, Iraqi forces released about 1.7 million m³ (11 million barrels) of oil from storage tanks and tankers directly into the Persian Gulf. In February, they also destroyed 1,164 Kuwaiti oil wells. It took nine months to extinguish these oil fires. These oil spills contaminated 1000 km (600 miles) of Persian Gulf coast. Combatants UN Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf, Michel Roquejeoffre , Peter de la Billière, Khalid bin Sultan, Saleh Al-Muhaya, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 378 dead, 1,000 wounded see section below The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (2...

The result of the pollution was the death of thousands of water birds and serious damage to the Persian Gulf's aquatic ecosystem, particularly shrimp, sea turtles, dugongs, whales, dolphins and fish. An ecosystem, a contraction of ecological and system, refers to the collection of biotic and abiotic components and processes that comprise and govern the behavior of some defined subset of the biosphere. ... Superfamilies Alpheoidea Atyoidea Bresilioidea Campylonotoidea Crangonoidea Galatheacaridoidea Nematocarcinoidea Oplophoroidea Palaemonoidea Pandaloidea Pasiphaeoidea Procaridoidea Processoidea Psalidopodoidea Stylodactyloidea True shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. ... Genera Family Cheloniidae (Oppel, 1811) Caretta Chelonia Eretmochelys Lepidochelys Natator Family Dermochelyidae Dermochelys Family Protostegidae (extinct) Family Toxochelyidae (extinct) Family Thalassemyidae (extinct) Sea turtles (Chelonioidea) are turtles found in all the worlds oceans except theArctic Ocean, and some species travel between oceans. ... Binomial name Dugong dugon (Müller, 1776) Natural range of . ... A Fin Whale The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. ... Genera See article below. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ...

The damaged wells also released 10 million m³ (60 million barrels) of oil into the desert and formed lakes (total surface of 49 square kilometers) which contaminated soil and ground water. Groundwater is any water found below the land surface. ...

Weaponry

Weaponry used by the US during the Gulf war also poses a huge risk to the environmental stability of the area. Tank columns in the desert plains may disrupt the fragile stability that exists. The desert soil is protected from erosion by a thin hardened crust. However, in 1991, the passage of US tanks damaged the crust and unleashed a massive, slow moving sand dune. Some people fear that this dune could ultimately reach Kuwait City. Another concern is related to the use of radioactive depleted uranium munitions by the A-10 "Warthog". Some detractors claim the ammunitions to be a cancer risk and a source of water contamination. In 1991, the U.S. and NATO dropped nearly 300 tons of depleted uranium on Iraqi targets. The splinters resulting from the explosion contaminated the surrounding soil. This article is about the sand formations, for other meanings see Dune (disambiguation) Mesquite Flat Dunes in Death Valley National Park In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by eolian (wind-related) processes. ... Kuwait City Kuwait City (also Al-Kuwait - الكويت), population 32,403 (2005 Census), is the capital of the emirate of Kuwait and part of the Al-Asimah governorate. ... Depleted uranium storage yard. ... The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets. ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... Water pollution has many sources and characteristics. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague. ...

Conservation

The conservation status of the desert is critical/endangered, with species including the white oryx and sand gazelle threatened and striped hyaenas, jackals and honey badgers already extinct. Binomial name Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758) The Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is closely related to the Brown Hyena, but lives in northern Africa, the Middle East, and western India. ... Species Canis aureus Canis adustus Canis mesomelas A jackal is any of three (sometimes four) small to medium-sized members of the family Canidae, found in Africa, Asia and Southeastern Europe[1]. (The name jackal is borrowed from Turkish Çakal which originates from Sanskrit: Srgālah [2]) Jackals fill a... Binomial name Mellivora capensis (Schreber, 1776) The Ratel (Mellivora capensis), also known as the Honey Badger, is a member of the Mustelidae family. ...

No formal protected areas exist but a number of protected areas are in the planning for Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi or Abu Zaby (Arabic language: أبوظبي) is the largest of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates and was also the largest of the former Trucial States. ...

Certain desert species are being looked into for further research. Some of these organisms are becoming extinct because of rescent devolopments regarding specific animals in the desert.

References