Abstract
The Western part of Arabian Peninsula constitutes a shield-like mega-structure, in which mountain chains are oriented in the NW-SE direction. Along this mountainous region, surface runoff is almost diverted to-wards the Red Sea in the west. Thus, several catchment topographic units exist to capture rainfall water among them. Even tough, the precipitation rate in the Western part of Arabian Peninsula is low (i.e. <200mm), yet a number of drainage systems occur and reveal empirical stream networking. However, stud-ies belong to the watersheds located in the Western part of Arabian Peninsula are still rare and sometimes they show erroneous morphological characterization, notably in the catchments delineation. This is attributed mainly to the complicated drainage pattern, which is structurally-controlled. Thus, related morphological and hydrological studied obtained on these drainage systems reveal discreditable results and measures. This study aims to characterize Wadi Aurnah Watershed (~3113 km2), which comprises a typical catchment in the Western part of Arabian Peninsula. In addition to topographic maps, remotely sensed data (ASTER and IKONOS satellite images) were utilized to delineate water divides with the most precision. Consequently, relevant morphological and hydrological characteristics of Aurnah watershed were obtained.
Highlights
The Arabian Peninsula, as a part of the Dead Sea Rift System, is a semi-island that surrounded by Red Sea, Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf from the west, south and east; respectively (Figure 1)
This study aims to characterize Wadi Aurnah Watershed (~3113 km2), which comprises a typical catchment in the Western part of Arabian Peninsula
There are other connecting wadis in the north. They appear in a parallelel to each other in the NE-SW direction with an angle of connection of about 30-40 degrees to the primary wadi (Figure 5b)
Summary
The Arabian Peninsula, as a part of the Dead Sea Rift System, is a semi-island that surrounded by Red Sea, Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf from the west, south and east; respectively (Figure 1). Water from rainfall flows along the mountainous regions towards the sea. The precipitation rate in the whole Peninsula is low enough to create continues run-off, and often flow of water from surrounding mountains does not even reach the sea. The Western part of Arabian Peninsula, where Wadi Aurnah is located, encompasses a steep sloping terrain (the so-called Hijaz Escarpment), notably along the mountain chains of the Arabian Shield. This Shield comprises a mega-structure that spread into the middle part of the Peninsula. The area constitutes the most elevated crests in the region, peaks of more than 2000 m frequently exist. Several valley systems (Wadis in Arabic) are detaching from these peaks towards the Red Sea
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