The template of this page is being worked at Wikipedia:WikiProject Ecoregions/Template. Please, update this page preferably

ecoregion : Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands (Ref PA1303). An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ...

Name in arabic :

Overview

This ecoregion is the largest on the Arabian Peninsula.
It is a vast desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It is one of the continuous bodies of sand in the world. Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards are just some of the desert-adapted species 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. An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ... A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation, less than 200 mm per year. ... Map of the Persian Gulf. ... Patterns in the sand Sand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. ...

This ecoregion holds little biodiversity, although a few endemic plants grow here. Many species, such as the striped hyaena, 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. Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of and in living nature. ... Hunting is, in its most general sense, the pursuit of a target. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Driving is the controlled operation of a vehicle, which is usually a motor vehicle such as a truck, bus, motorcycle, or car. ...

General description

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 are about 50°C in summer, with an average temperature of 12°C in winter, though it can go below 0°C. Daily extremes are very important.
Saudi Arabia show lower summer temperatures (around 30°C) with cold winter temperature (around 5°C, with frequent frost), with average rainfall of less than 80 mm.

Geologic and pedologic features

picture needed
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 Tuwayq 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. ... Quicksand is loose, water-logged sand which yields easily to weight or pressure. ... 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. Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ... A gas is one of the phases of matter. ... In chemistry, a phosphate is a polyatomic ion or radical consisting of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ...

The Rub'al-Kali 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 Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of and in living nature. ...

• 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. ...

People and Conservation

Ecoregion and political borders

Countries : mostly Saudi Arabia, extending into the surrounding countries of Egypt (Sinai), western 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

Ethnics : Arab, Kurdish, Turkman, Assyrian...
Religions: Muslim in majority (Shite and sunni)
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian...

Ecological threats

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

This article is in need of attention. ... A farmer in Germany works the land in the traditional way with a horse and plough. ... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 Petroleum (from Latin petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish flammable liquid, which exists in the upper strata of some areas of the Earths crust. ... Natural gas (commonly refered to as gas in many countries) is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... An act of war - the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan during World War II War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of violent, physical force between combatants or upon civilians. ...

Oil spills

This ecoregion was victim of a massive economic-environmental : the sabotage of Kuwait oil facilities that caused vast oil spills and the release of toxins into the atmosphere in the 1990s. Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ...

At the beginning in January 1991 during Persian 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. See also: 2003 invasion of Iraq and Gulf War (disambiguation) C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. ...

Result of the pollution was thousands of water birds death and serious damage to the Persian Gulf's aquatic ecosystem (shrimp, sea turtles, dugongs, whales, dolphins and fish). In ecology, an ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a loose unit. ...

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. For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is a general term for the material that lies on the surface of the earth, supporting the growth of plants and serving as a habitat for animal life from microrganisms to small animals. ... Groundwater is any water found below the land surface. ...

Weaponry

Weaponry used by the US during the Persian 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 damage 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 risk for cancer 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. 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 is the capital of Kuwait and is one of the busiest financial and trade centres in the Gulf. ... When normal cells are damaged or old they undergo apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. ... Water pollution has many sources and characteristics. ... // Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium which contains a reduced proportion of the fissile isotope U-235 and (usually) the highly radioactive but rare isotope U-234, compared to natural uranium. ...

Conservation

Pictures needed.

Conservation status : critical/endangered
Protected area :
Endemic species : Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards
Introduced species :
Threatened species : white oryx, sand gazelle
Extinct species : striped hyaena, jackal, honey badger A GAZelle (Russian: ) is a series of mid-sized trucks, vans and buses made by Russian car manufacturer GAZ. The base model number is GAZ-3302, but several variants exist. ... 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. ... Binomial name Felis margarita Loche, 1858 The Sand Cat (Felis margarita) is a small wild cat (length 50 cm, plus 30 cm tail) distributed over African and Asian deserts. ... Sweet clover (Melilotus sp. ... 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 Canis simensis A jackal is any of four small to medium-sized members of the family Canidae, found in Africa and Asia. ... 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.

Relevant Wikipedia articles

Desertification

soil salination

Persian Gulf War

Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh