* Astronomy

A group of 50 scientists from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Switzerland and Egypt will spend nearly two weeks in the deserts of the Empty Quarter. The Empty Quarter — in Arabic, Ar-rub Al-Khali — is an area of some 560,000 square kilometres which accounts for more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia. The scientists will study various features of the region along with its geographic and geological components.

Organised by the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), the 13-day trip will run from February 23 through to March 11. The group will concentrate on the northern and eastern parts of the vast region. The main purpose of the journey is to stimulate scientific interest in the region.

“The excursion will provide an overview of aspects of the geology, geography, hydrogeology, environment, wildlife, tourism potential, and known antiquities of the region” - Saudi Geological Survey .

The Empty Quarter, located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, is 1,200 kilometres long and 650 kilometres wide. It is among the largest continuous deserts in the world with a total area of 650,000 square kilometres. About 80 percent of this is in the Kingdom. Its eastern edges extend into the United Arab Emirates, and its southern margin is in the Sultanate of Oman. Parts of its southern and southwestern limits are also in the Republic of Yemen.
The scientists will make field investigations and will visit important natural features of the region, including the meteorite crater at Hadeedah, the antiquities and ancient wells near Kharkheer and other historical places, the SGS statement said.

“They will have the opportunity to observe, at close range, a variety of landforms, particularly sand dunes, inter-dune lakebeds and dip-slope topography created by the underlying bedrock. As one of the goals of the SGS is to inform the world about this vast and unique part of the Kingdom, the results of the tour will be widely published” - Saudi Geological Survey .

The scientists will take samples, document their observations, present a summary of their findings and propose future work.
The scientists will be in Jeddah on Thursday (February 23) and leave for Riyadh the next day. On Saturday they will leave by car for Haradh, 350-km southeast of Riyadh, and attend a ceremony marking the beginning of the trip. On Sunday, when the expedition officially begins, the team will leave for Al-Husan in order to see different kinds of sand dunes. The trip will also take them to Al-Shaibah, Aradah, Sahmah and other areas where they will study desert vegetation, wildlife, gypsum deposits, ancient trade caravan routes, artesian wells, sulphurous water and old water wells.
On March 10, the team will return to Jeddah. The next day at a meeting at SGS headquarters in the city, they will discuss findings and future studies.

Saudi Arabia has signed agreements with Russia’s Lukoil, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and a consortium of Spain’s Repsol YPF and Italy’s ENI for upstream gas exploration and production in the Empty Quarter.
The contracts with the three companies to explore and produce non-associated gas in 120,000 square kilometres of the northern part of the desert region were signed in Riyadh in March 2004.

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