Sharqiya Sands

Sharqiya Sands, also widely known as Wahiba Sands, is a desert in the Eastern Region of Oman, measuring about 180 kilometers north to south and 80 kilometers east to west across some 12,500 square kilometers. Its dune systems differ by zone: the upper Sharqiya area carries mega-ridge dunes aligned north-south, while northern dunes rise as high as 100 meters. The sands built up during the Quaternary period through wind action, shaped by the southwest-blowing summer monsoon and the northern shamal trade wind, with the dune field forming after the region's last glaciation. Beneath the surface sand lies an older layer of cemented carbonate sand, and central deposits preserve Paleolithic-era alluvium from Wadi Batha buried some 200 meters beneath the interdune surface, with Wadi Batha and Wadi Andam marking the desert's western and northern boundaries through their fluvial systems; wind erosion has also left a nearly level plain in the desert's southwest. This entity documents Sharqiya Sands specifically as a geological formation, a Quaternary aeolian dune field shaped by opposing monsoon and trade winds.