River In The Sand

In September, 2009, one of our weekend field trips took us to Wadi Safwan, Parakeet Park and Wadi Sharm. Earlier in the day, rain had fallen along the foothills of the Hajar Mountains between Khadrah and Musah. The showers continued during the day, soaking the sand along the northern side of Wadi Sharm and, we learned later, causing strong winds, thunder and lighting, and isolated heavy showers in Al Ain.

After visiting Parakeet Park, the stand of mature ghaf trees in the sand wadi filled with Calotropis procera bushes, we headed across the sand towards the Swiss Mountains.

We were pleasantly surprised to see a number of streams in the desert sand, the water forming a channel faster than members could keep pace. We observed a number of streams as we made our way across the sandy end of Wadi Sharm where it intersects Wadi Safwan.

Rivers in the desert are rare but do take place when heavy rains pass over the sand. They often last for only an hour or two before the water has spread of the flat sand wadi and been absorbed, continuing to flow beneath the surface and providing much needed moisture for the existing vegetation.

ENHG members Chris Watson, Penny Chan, Eva Lagasse, Roland Ochmann and Peter Dickason have shared the photographs below.

A co-operative agamid posed for photographs	An agamid surprised at the river and our convoy	The muddy stream with dunes near Nuway in background.	Though we observed several streams, no rain fell on our convoy
The stream extending quickly towards the setting sun	Calotropis bushes as impromptu islands in the stream	Calotropis procera blossom	The stream heading westward toward the setting sun
The stream expanded in width as the flow rate increased	Members enjoying the rare sight	The stream was carrying quantities of silt	Everyone was amazed as the rate the stream was extended
A photograph showing the quickly moving stream	In minutes the stream had widened, water collecting in depressions	The water extended several hundred meters in less than 10 minutes	The setting sun provided unique opportunities for photographers
A second stream nearby was creeping closer to our vantage point