'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎18v] (26/96)

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loss from Arbat and the Sahnut or Sahalnaut there would be a pos-
sibility of the percolation converging on the khor at l i b ala .
22 In the Rizat wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. there is a great spring which keeps a
laree oool fairly full and even overflowing just within the hills. I
beheve the place is called Mulwah Al’Aud or is just above it, and
south-west of the hill known as Jabal Nashib. Here the discharge
at the time of my visit, was no less than 18 cusecs or 6 times that of
Sahnut. It is a true underground river, and the water is led out or
irrigation to Mahmulah and beyond in one direction and to Hamran
in the other. I checked the volume in one place near Mahmulah,
5 miles from the pool, and found the quantity less than 9 cusecs.
The loss of 50% includes the water tapped off for the cocoanut
plantation 2 miles north of Mahmulah. East of the Rizat wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
there are springs in the next two wadis—-the Hamran and beyond
the Tabraq—each said to yield one cusec in the hot dry months. All
these waters are fresh and cool except the Sahnut or Sahalnaut which
takes the overflow of the pool, and the water was warm m com
parison with the others. At Murbat water is obtained from shallow
wells in the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. close to the town, but the water is saline and
unattractive. . ^ u 4 .
23. Between Murbat and Rizat lies the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Darbat which
drains the slopes on the north-western side of the Jabal Samhan
as well as the southern slopes of the eastern end of the Jabal Qara.
This important wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. discharges into the sea near Takah and has
on its way out of the hills, an elevated valley with a lake nearly 2
miles long. The lake appears to lie in a valley which has been filled
up largely by deposited calcareous tufa or travertine. The natural
dam of this tufa is to be seen in the cliffs over 500 feet, known as
the Dahaq in the main valley, and the Murgha in the side valley to
the west. These cliffs—the Murgha abyss and the Darbat abyss
of Bent—represent the precipitation of upwards of 50 million tons
of travertine. At present, at the time of my visit, the discharge of
water from the top is probably not more than 2 cusecs and the fall,
550 feet, is largely fine spray by the time it touches the southern
base of the precipice. There must be considerable percolation under
the bed of the dry wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. between the Dahaq and the lake or khor
Rori (or Ruri) just before its outlet to the sea at Inqitat (Khatiya
of Bent). Unlike the waters of khor El Balad which are sweet,
the waters of khor El Rori are slightly saline.
24. According to the sketch-map accompanying Bent’s paper
of 1895 the khor El Rori is nearly 3 miles long, although its outlet
to the sea west of Khatiya island is newly silted. During the last
50 years much has been altered. The khor is very much smaller
as a sheet of water, and the mouth of the estuary is now completely
closed by sand along the beach. This is also the case with El Balad,
but there the khor water is fresh, although not fed by any visible