Al Awabi quartzite
The Cretaceous quartzite here originated in the time of the dinosaurs around 90 million years ago. The quartzite was originally sandstone. It changed its structure (metamorphosed) under heavy pressure...
Read more
Al Fahal Island
Al Fahal Island (Shark Island) is situated around 4km from the mainland and has an area of just 2.24 km2. It is composed mostly of around 55 to 35 million year old Eocene limestone and marl. This lim...
Read more
Al Jabal Al Aswad
This magnificent landscape is dominated by a cliff which shows the contact between Ordovician Amdah quartzite at the base which was deposited nearly 500million years ago in a shallow marine environmen...
Read more
Al Khoud Unconformity
Around 34 to 23 million years ago, this part of Oman was much lower than it is today and covered by a shallow sea. The Mid Tertiary limestone originally formed in horizontal layers on the sea floor. O...
Read more
Al Khayran
Al Khayran is an area of great geological and biological diversity. It features drowned river valleys creating islands and fjord like coastline, several types of rock formations, extensive mangrove wo...
Read more
Ayn Al Hammam Hot Spring
The Ayn Al Hammam hot spring is situated at a huge fault structure, separating Triassic dolomite (sedimentary rocks) from ophiolite (volcanic rocks). They were brought together in a huge tectonic move...
Read more
A’Sifah Eclogite
This huge outcrop of green rock contains eclogite, a special kind of metamorphic rock; that is rock changed by pressure and/or heat. This particular rock has been on one of the hardest journeys imagin...
Read more
Bawsher marble
In this part of the city, modern Muscat meets old traditional buildings and directly faces the Hajar Mountains. The light coloured rock here is considered to be the best marble deposit in Oman due to ...
Read more
Coastal erosion
The Al Khiran coast is shaped mainly by the erosional influences of wind, rain and sea. The action of the sea slowly wears away at the base of the cliffs of these relatively soft rocks; undercutting t...
Read more
Concentric fold
This beautiful fold contains limestone which developed 250 million years ago in a former ocean called the Tethys. It was located in what is now the north of Oman. The ocean closed when the oceanic cru...
Read more
Eye fold
In the center of this cliff is a circular structure, giving the impression of a huge eye within the thick limestone beds. This ‘eye’ was formerly 250 million year old Permian limestone layers that wer...
Read more
Intertidal ecosystem
The intertidal zone is the area of coast where the land is exposed between low tide and high tide. In the Gulf of Oman the tidal range (the difference in height between low and high tide) is only up t...
Read more
Jurassic bedding
In this rock, different layers and folds can clearly be seen, although not all of them are parallel; some seem to consist of small folds, while others are showing huge structures. Here in the Jurassic...
Read more
Limestone fault
By applying pressure on a rock, two things can happen: either it is soft and releases the pressure by folding or it is hard and therefore only able to fault whereby the rock unit cracks with the two s...
Read more
Limestone landscape
The dramatic creamy textured rock in this part of Wadi Mijlas is Early Eocene limestone around 55 million years old. The rock includes thin beds of yellowish marly limestone and massive whitish nodula...
Read more
Magnesite veins
As the ocean closed oceanic layers were pushed above the Arabian plate. The huge pressure involved in this process changed the rocks appearance and order. Layers were folded, broken and also turned ar...
Read more
Mangrove forest
The green trees growing in the sea to the left are black mangroves (Avicenia marina’ or Qurm in Arabic). These are one of the few trees which can live in salty conditions. They prefer bays such as tho...
Read more
Mega fold
This huge fold shows the enormous stress that has been placed on the rock. This Permian sedimentary limestone rock is around 250 million years old. It was formed when Oman was covered by the Tethys; ...
Read more
Mega syncline
An arch which opens upwards in a ‘u’ shape is called a syncline. Here Wadi Al Mayh flows directly across a huge syncline formed in limestone. The Permian limestone was deposited as horizontal sediment...
Read more
Mini folds
This outcrop of Permian limestone aged around 270 million years old consists of thin layers of marine sediment deposited in the Tethys ocean, an ocean that has since closed due to movements of the ear...
Read more
Mutrah Geotrail East
Starting in Riyam, you are now making a geological journey to the bottom of the ocean. Along the way are stunning views of Mutrah Port and the Gulf of Oman. This track was once the main land route be...
Read more
Mutrah Geotrail West
The mountains here are made of ophiolite, a rock which developed out of magma from beneath the ocean floor. It contains minerals like chrome and copper, ores which have been mined in Oman for thousan...
Read more
Nodular Limestone
The yellow-brown rock on the banks of Wadi Al Khawd was originally the sea floor. Between 55 to 34 million years ago (Eocene) the sea was rich in marine life and the remains of marine creatures like s...
Read more
Nummulites
Around 34 to 23 million years ago (Mid Tertiary), this rock was covered by shallow sea; an ideal environment for Nummulites of the foraminifera class. These small single celled organisms have calcite ...
Read more
Ophiolite contact
Three kinds of rock can be seen from this scenic viewpoint. On the left hand side is darkish grey Triassic limestone around 230 million years old. This marine sediment is in contact with brown ophioli...
Read more
Ophiolite obduction
The rock above is part of one of the most significant rock outcrops in Oman. This is the internationally renowned Samail Ophiolite. The story of the ‘landing’ of the Samail Ophiolite along Oman’s nort...
Read more
Pillow lava
Pillow lava is part of a sequence of rocks called Ophiolites. These were originally molten rocks from beneath the ocean that have later become exposed to the surface. Pillow lava is a very hard rock w...
Read more
Port View
The rock here was once buried under the ocean; where the oceanic crust floats on the earth’s hot mantle. These “Ophiolites” are the meeting point in between hot magma (more than 1000°C) and cold ocea...
Read more
Ripple marks
A short walk in Wadi Amdeh will lead you to a place where nearly 500 million years ago you would have been standing on the beach on the edge of the sea shore, right in the area between high and low ti...
Read more
Riyam view
Looking at the seas of the Gulf of Oman here it is hard to imagine this was once the scene of geologically earth shattering events. 90 million years ago, a several kilometre thick slab of the oceanic ...
Read more
Schist bedding
This schist was originally 300 million year old argillaceous limestone - limestone with a high content of clay or silica. The layers of the limestone were later placed under great of pressure and heat...
Read more
|