'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎42r] (73/96)

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will be found even in the Rub’al Khali. However, salt is of impor
tance to Dhufar, and at the present time small quantities are obtained
from ‘pans’, by the evaporation of sea-water near Kharain, on the
edge of bay at Risut, and between Okad (Augad) and the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
marsh near Risut. The quantity now evaporated is small, but there
is space for establishing a salt manufacture on a large scale. This
salt would be primarily for the manufacture of Soda Ash, and the
rise and fall of the tide, about 4 to 5 feet, would permit large quanti
ties of salt water to be trapped at high tide to allow continuous opera
tions on a large scale.
Serpentine
90. Serpentine occurs among the metamorphic rocks in the
low hills, Jabal Ali, near Murbat, and specimens were brought to
me from further east along the foot of the Jabal Samhan scarp, but,
so far as I know, the occurrences are small and irregular. The
interest in Serpentine is not so much in itself as in the possible
occurrence of true Asbestos, Chrysotile or fibrous Serpentine, and
perhaps of Steatite (Talc).
Steatite
Among the specimens there were two or three of Steatite or
Talc, but the material was not pure white nor pale green with a fresh
appearance, but a dull white with, what seemed, rusty spots where
Garnet crystals had weathered away. However, there is no doubt
that Serpentine, in massive form, is present among the metamorphic
rocks of the Murbat archaean platform. It is possible that the
larger deposits occur with good quality Steatite or Talc, but the
material shown to me is what might be designated ‘soapstone’, a
general term for mineral substances possessing a soapy feel, but
usually of an inferior quality to fine-grained, massive Steatite.
The important fact is that a closer search for workable deposits
may be justified when a detailed mineral survey of Dhufar is made.
TrEmoeite
Actinolite: Besides odd specimens of mica-schist, chlorite-
mica-schist, etc., there were some with an amphibole (now determined
as Actinolite), but which I first thought was Tremolite. However, the
mineral was in a fibrous form, which is known as Asbestos (meaning
incombustible). Both Actinolite and Tremolite occur in the form
(fibrous) of Asbestos. The commercial kind of this amphibole
Asbestos is that in which the fibres are separable, otherwise the
material is not amenable to weaving into cloth or rope. None of
the specimens brought to me have easily separable fibres, but it
often happens that this variety weathers badly and is not as evident
at first as the more solid fibrous form (having the fibres like thin long