Optical dating of two dune profiles developed in linear dunes in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, has been used to establish the timing and rate of dune accretion. One section at Awafi was over 17 m high, while that at Idhn was over 40 m high. The Awafi dune appears to have accumulated very rapidly ≈10 000 years ago, with a vertical accumulation rate of about 3·3 m ka−1. The Idhn dune appears to have accumulated over the past 1000 years, with 20 m of sediment accumulating in a time period of about 270 years. The Awafi dune may have accumulated in response to the transgression of the Persian Gulf by rising sea levels in late Pleistocene and Holocene times. The Idhn dune may have accumulated rapidly because of intensified human activity, a short‐lived climatic event, or because it may periodically be reactivated after erosion by fluvial action at its base.

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Spatial variations in sand sea geochemistry relate to mixing of different sediment sources and to variations in weathering. Due to problems of accessibility, adequate spatial coverage cannot be achieved using field surveys alone. However, maps of geochemical composition produced from remotely sensed data can be calibrated against limited field data and the results extrapolated over large, inaccessible areas. This technique is applied to part of the Rub' Al Khali in the northern United Arab Emirates. Trend surface analysis of the results suggests that the sand sea at this location can be modelled as an east-west mixing zone of two spectral components: terrestrial reddened quartz sands and marine carbonate sands. Optical dating of these sediments suggests that dune emplacement occurred rapidly around 10 ka BP, when sea level was rising rapidly. The spatial distribution of mineralogical components suggests that this phase of dune emplacement resulted from coastal dune sands being driven inland during marine transgression, thereby becoming mixed with rubified terrestrial sands.

Three types of alluvial-fan settings are recognized in the Wadi Al-Bih area of the Musandam Mountains, northern UAE and Oman; mountain-front fans, tributary-junction fans and steep hillslope debris cones. Three styles of fan geometry, only partly dependent on fan setting, can be recognized: telescopic fans, stacked fans and truncated fans. Each style, together with degree of confinement, reflects the topographic and geological context of the fan and its source area. The mountain-front fans are mostly unconfined fans with telescopic styles. The tributary-junction fans are confined fans, some with stacked or telescopic styles, others that have been truncated by base-level-induced toe trimming. Most of the debris cones are simple hillfoot debris cones. Standard morphometric analyses of fan areas and fan gradients in relation to drainage basin area yield results that compare with other studies, but the relationships differ between the three groups of fans, in part reflecting fan style, especially between mountain-front and tributary-junction fans. The morphometry of the debris cones is only poorly characterized by the morphometric relationships. Cone morphology most strongly reflects source-area lithology. Analysis of the residuals from the regression analyses suggests that the morphometric differences between the three groups reflect fan sedimentary processes, fan setting and fan style, particularly relating to confinement.

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