Wilfred Thesiger and the Umm as Samim, Oman

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Abstract
Often our knowledge and understanding of the geology and geomorphology of some of the remotest areas of the world has had its roots in the observations of pioneering European explorers. This is particularly so in the Arabian Peninsula, where the Ar Rub' al Khali (‘the Empty Quarter’) desert is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, 1200 km long and 650 km wide, covering some 650 000 km2. Extremely dry (hyper‐arid) and almost completely barren, it presented a formidable obstacle to explorers. Indeed, one of the earliest travellers across western Arabia, Charles Doughty, wrote in 1888 ‘I passed one good day in Arabia, and all the rest were evil’.

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