Karst in Ras Al-Khaimah, Northern United Arab Emirates

Abstract

2) Asma Al-Farraj, Tadej Slabe, Martin Knez, Franci Gabrovšek, Janez Mulec, Metka Petrič, Nadja Zupan Hajna: Karst in Ras Al-Khaimah, Northern United Arab EmiratesThis paper presents karstological prospecting of selected areas in Ras Al-Khaimah Emirate, UAE. Several locations in Musandam Mountains have been explored for caves, karst springs and surface karst features. Two karst springs, Khatt and MeBreda, were analyzed for basic physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. Although they are both recharged from karst aquifers, they differ significantly. The first one is a thermal spring in which infiltrated rain water is mixed with more saline and mineralized water from greater depths. The location of the second one at the high altitude of 710 m a. s. l. is conditioned by the existence of a less permeable zone within a carbonate aquifer with a larger share of dolomite. There were increased concentrations of nitrates probably due to grazing goats around the spring but on the other hand there was surprisingly low number of total bacterial counts; however detected Escherichia coli indicated probable fecal contamination. None of the water from any of the tested sites matched the ISO criteria for direct human consumption. Surface rock relief resulted from different karst processes was studied in river beds and side walls of wadis and on the mountain plateaus. The slopes of the wadis are often dissected by large recesses, relatively rare subsoil forms, and karren with microrills and rain flutes. More extensive karren are found on the tops of the mountains. The rocky riverbeds of wadis were shaped by rapid water currents and corrosion at the contact with sediment. In the study area at the northern slopes of mountains no big cave was found. The largest discovered cave was in fact tectonic fracture which was extended due to the gravitational sliding of part of a mountain along a fissure. But several small (10−20 m long) solutional caves have been discovered and surveyed on the wadis slopes. They exhibit relatively simple assemblage of dominantly deadend passages. Caves are vertically distributed at several levels IzvlečekUDK 551.435.8(536.2) V članku predstavljamo preliminarne krasoslovne raziskave izbranih območij emirata Ras Al-Khaimah, ZAE. Na več lokacijah v Musandamskem gorovju smo raziskovali jame, kraške izvire in kraško površje. Kemične in mikrobiološke analize voda dveh kraških izvirov (Khatt in MeBreda) kažejo na precejšnjo razliko obeh vodozbirnih območij. Khatt je termalni izvir, za katere je značilno mešanje infiltrirane deževnice in globokih mineraliziranih voda. Izvir MeBreda se nahaja na nadmorski višini 710 m in iztekanje vode je pogojeno z manj prepustno dolomitizirano plastjo. Zaradi gorske paše je v vodi precej nitratov, vendar presenetljivo malo celokupnih bakterij. Priso tnost E. coli vseeno nakazuje verjetno fekalno onesnaženost. Nobena analizirana voda ne ustreza ISO standardom za nepo sredno uporabo za pitno vodo. Na gorskih planotah, pobočjih in kori tih vadijev smo proučevali kraške skalne ...

Exploration of Thermal Activity within the Three Hot Springs Area in United Arab Emirates Using Landsat 8/ OLI-TIRS Images

“…In the vicinity of the rock outcrop, the limestone aquifer is unconfined and further (down dip) away from the rock outcrop, the limestone aquifer is either semi-confined or confined by underlying and overlying rock units [8]. Two hydraulically connected groundwater aquifers can be identified as follows [21,22]:…”

“…This resulted in the formation of the major northeast-trending anticlinal structure through the Musandam Mountains, the Hagab Thrust fault along the western edge of the mountains and the Jiri plain, and the Dibba Zone to the southeast, with the Batha Mahani thrust running along the valley of WadiTawiyean. Consequently, the Musandam limestone is strongly faulted, with major trends running northeast (parallel to the Dibba Zone thrusts), north, and northwest[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Plio-Pleistocene Dust Traps on Paleokarst Surfaces: A Case Study From the Carpathian Basin

“…The rate and distance of eolian transportation strongly depend on grain ability and availability (grainsize and shape), terrain and wind strength (Evans and Reed, 2007;Varga et al, 2011;Kok et al, 2012;Vandenberghe, 2013;Újvári et al, 2016). Allochthonous karst depression, cave and fissurefill sediments are mostly believed to be originated from local sources (Pickford and Mein, 1988;Atalay, 1997;Evans and Reed, 2007;Peresani et al, 2008;Evans and Soreghan, 2015;Muttoni et al, 2017), and considered to be derived from the terrain directly overlying the fracture networks on carbonates (Bosch and White, 2007;Costantini et al, 2009;Mikulčić Pavlaković et al, 2011;Gil et al, 2013;Al-Farraj et al, 2014;Peng et al, 2019;Soriano et al, 2019). Only a few studies have recognized the link between cave and fissure sediments and windblown dust (Coude-Gaussen et al, 1984;Villa et al, 1995;Evans and Reed, 2007;Merino and Banerjee, 2008;Rellini et al, 2013;Evans and Soreghan, 2015;Andreucci et al, 2017;Kovács et al, 2017;Bosák and Zupan Hajna, 2018;Durn et al, 2018;Ge et al, 2020).…”

Lithology, Rock Relief and Karstification of Minamidaito Island (Japan)

“…Studies of the karst characteristics of Minamidaito Island were undertaken in the framework of a grant-in-aid project for the Scientific Research Program of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Ja-MARTIN KNEZ, TADEJ SLABE & KAZUKO URUSHIBARA-yOSHINO pan and the Karst Research Program (Slovene Research Agency) of Slovenia. Part of the project was devoted to broadening knowledge about the development of the island's karst (preliminary information was prepared for the local conference, Knez et al 2013), augmented with a study of lithomorphogenesis, part of the global study of the formation of karst surfaces given diverse rock, conditions, and different regional frameworks (Knez & Slabe 2002;Debevec et al 2012;Al Farraj Al Ketbi et al 2014;Gutiérrez Domech et al 2015;Knez et al 2011Knez et al , 2012Knez et al , 2015Slabe 2005Slabe , 2009Slabe et al 2016;and, Karst Rock Features book (Ginés et al 2009). A variety of characteristics of the formation and development of karst features is clearly evident.…”