'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎17v] (24/96)

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# and cave at Thenot the hollow is seen but the water has evidently
leaked away under the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. floor. The same is true also of Har at same n
camp where there are tumbled masses of limestone below the dry’ require
waterfall (no cave there). At Obet there is a large pool (as well as G f the
a good cave) and a small spring feeding it, although the waterfall is appear
dry. I have no data as to the degree to which the pools shrink, but astonist
at Ayun and Obet there are bulrushes and a little marsh suggesting only se]
that the pool in each case, while subject to overflooding, does not sand,
greatly contract during the dry period from October to June even 20.
when the weather has become very hot. In these cases the pools a centu
are sheltered by the shade of the cliffs. The water was always cold or lake
and usually without a trace of salt. Ayun and Obet gave a slight fall of
muddy taste, Hanun was definitely salt but still drinkable by a hurried
thirsty man. • Zaq was slightly salt, but the Thenut spring was cold khor wa
and sweet. At Hanun the bedded limestones on the sides of the anchora
wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. tasted strongly of salt (along certain layers). that th
18. There are pools (evidently spring-fed) and springs in nearly fortifica
every large stream flowing seawards to the plains, Jurbaid, of city wa
Dhufar, but only within or on the very edge of the hills or spurs. If this i
This was true of the Nagar Ghaiz west-north-west of Risut, but we sand shi
had to go nearly 8 miles up to find the pools within the hills. In the of fresh
case of the Garzaz, about 9 miles north by west from Salalah and water t]
almost on the edge of the plains, there is a fine spring. There is El Bala
really more than one spring, but they emerge from the limestone at in the 1
that point and, at the time of my visit the flow, into an aqueduct, subterra
was somewhat more than 1-25 cusecs. This is regarded as a safe the plai
average until the rains come and the place becomes a lake, due to siderabl
flood water, as was the case when the Bents visited the locality at 21.
an earlier stage after the rains than my visit. This 1-25 cusecs means that con
nearly 30,000 gallons an hour or roughly 800,000 gallons a day of Sa’a Sal
lovely cool freshwater. It is enough for 32,000 people at 25 gallons its sourc
a head. At present it is led out for irrigation purposes in an open the Thii
unlined channel and must be subject to considerable loss, although marks a
the leakage probably replenishes the water that is tapped in the there is ;
shallow wells between A1 Hush, Salalah and Hafa near the coast. is good
19. In the valley of the Nihaz, just before it enters the plains, There is
is the locality known as Ghaur Fazal, which was indicated as being (at the o
the site of Dianae Oraculum, but even the Bents were not quite this pla<
convinced on this point. However, in 1895 he gave the hole a within t
depth of 150 feet and a diameter of 50 feet, while Bertram Thomas the Riz;
estimated 100 feet for the depth and 20 feet as the diameter. The the flow
cave of Sahaur is up the hillside on the west, a mile away. I did not 3 cusecs
see the place, and neither the Bents nor Thomas mention water at led aero
the bottom of the hole. From their evidence I should conclude evident,
that it was a natural sink-hole which had been artificially shaped in the o
to the convenience of a well. It might quite easily overflow during must tra