20+ Interesting Facts About the Arabian Desert

1.  The Arabian Desert is a vast arid region in western Asia. This hot desert covers almost the entire Arabian Peninsula. 
2. The Arabian Desert is Asia’s largest desert and the world’s second-largest hot desert after the Sahara. It covers nearly 900,000 square miles (230,000 square km) in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar. 
3. The Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) is the largest continuous sandy desert. It is the largest portion of the Arabian Desert, located in parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the UAE. Its estimated length is from 560,000 square km to 650,000 square km, nearly double the size of the UK or equal to France. The area contains large sand dunes up to 250 meters (820 feet) high. (Source)
4. Apart from the Empty Quarter, there are other smaller deserts inside the Arabian Desert. The two main deserts are the Al Nafud al-Kabir (65,000 km) in northern Saudi Arabia and Al-Dahna (45,000 km) in central Saudi Arabia. Both these sandy deserts have dark orange or red sand dunes. 

   

   The Arabian Desert contains vast areas of orange sand dunes

   
   
5. The Arabian Desert is not entirely sandy, but also has mountainous areas, rocky terrain, volcanoes, wadis, and salt flats. The desert’s major highlands are in western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman. Al Hamad is its main stony and gravel plain that extends from the Al-Nafud Desert to Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Al Harrah (the Black Desert) in Northwestern Saudi Arabia is a major volcanic field in the desert. Another unique feature is Jabal Tuwayq, a limestone escarpment in central Saudi Arabia. 
6. The Arabian Desert has a hot and dry climate. The daytime temperature reaches nearly 55 C in summer. However, winters are mild, and the temperature may reach below 0 C at night in high altitude areas. The average annual rainfall is less than 100 mm (4 inches), while the range in different areas varies from 0 to 500 mm (0 to 20 inches).  
7. Older studies suggested that the Arabian Desert has maintained this arid state for the past 11 million years. However, recent research, based on mineral deposits in Saudi caves, proves that the desert remained a green and humid place in various phases over the past 8 million years ago. During this period, tropical precipitation from south to north in summer supported the abundance of water-dependent animals. These wetter conditions facilitated the migration of humans and other mammals from Africa to Eurasia. (Source)
8. Currently, the Arabian Desert has no permanent river or lake. However, research proves that there were 46 ancient lakes in the northern part of the desert, known as the Al-Nafud Desert. Various tools in this area prove that humans settled around these paleolakes between 1.8 million and 250,000 years ago. (Source)
9. Despite low rainfall and high evaporation rates, the Arabian Desert has over 200 springs on its northeastern side in Iraq. These springs recharge through a groundwater aquifer and contribute to the growth of local agriculture. (Source) 
10. Several animals are endemic to the Arabian Desert despite its scorching heat and low precipitation. These animals have adapted to the hot desert conditions through their unique body structures and mechanisms to reduce evaporation, increase water retention, and reflect sunlight. Animals native to the Arabian Desert include large herbivore mammals (gazelles, ibex, Arabian oryx, and camels), small mammals (hares, honey badgers, gerbils, etc.), reptiles (Arabian sand cobras, monitor lizards, etc.), amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and newts), carnivores (sand cats, Arabian wolves, and caracals), insects, and birds (both resident and migratory). 
11. Like other hot deserts, the Arabian Desert hosts specific plants. Harsh arid conditions only favor plants that retain moisture for a long duration, tolerate salty soil, and have deep roots. Trees, such as date palms, usually grow around oases. In some areas, flowers bloom after occasional rainfall. Alongside date palm, other common plants in the desert are junipers, milkweed, tamarisk and sedge. 
12. The Arabian Desert receives strong winds, known locally as shamals (plural of shamal, meaning north in Arabic), from the Mediterranean Sea. These winds blow for 30 to 50 days in two distinct seasons, from December to January and May to June. Shamals have an average velocity of 30 mph (48 km/h), which causes dust storms and shifting of dunes.
13. The Arabian Desert has salt pans, particularly on the eastern Arabian Peninsula, due to the impact of seawater. Heat and dry air quickly evaporates water, resulting in the concentration of salt brine on the surface or slightly below the surface of the desert. This type of salt flat is known as sabkha in the local Arabic language. The largest salt flat in the Arabian Desert is Sabkha Matti, located at the border between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 
14. The Sabkha soil is dangerous due to its unpredictability. The salinity of its soil and groundwater reduces its strength and increases flooding due to a low infiltration rate. Therefore, most areas alongside the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf remained undeveloped. However, it is a useful resource of freshwater and minerals. (Source)
15. Salt basins in the Arabian Desert also develop in enclosed valleys, locally known as mamlahah. The local Arab population has extracted salt from both sabkhas and mamlahahs for centuries. 
16. Archaeologists have uncovered ancient rocks with carvings of various animals in the Arabian Desert. These life-sized images prove that camels, ibex, gazelles, and wild donkeys have been living south of the Nefud Desert for nearly 12,000 years. These pictures also highlight the existence of hunter-gatherers. Humans settled here around 15,000 years ago when the rainfall period began after the Ice Age. (Source)
17. Footprints in the Al Nefud Desert, in northern Saudi Arabia, indicate that modern humans may have entered the Arabian Desert nearly 115,000 years ago. However, the researchers could not find stone tools or other evidence that confirms human settlement in the area. Therefore, it is expected that humans only used this “green area" at that time to migrate from Africa to Eurasia. (Source)
18. Pure quartzose sands are the best material in the Arabian Desert to produce solar thermal energy. These sands have higher energy density and spectral absorption compared to mixed soils. The southwestern part of the Nafud Desert has the highest concentration of pure quartzose sands, making it ideal for storing thermal energy and absorbing solar energy. In Rub al Khali and Dahna, other large sandy desert areas of the Arabian Desert, quartzose sands are mixed with feldspar and carbonate. These materials reduce soil efficiency for solar and thermal energy production. (Source)
19. Most parts of the Arabian Desert lack water, but several oases support the growth of date palms, some crops, and desert animals. These traditional oases form through underground aquifers that accumulated after thousands of years of wet climate. The most famous is the Al-Ahsa Oasis in Saudi Arabia, the largest in the world. There are 168 traditional oases in Oman, 73 in Yemen, 21 in Saudi Arabia, and 2 in the UAE. 
20. The Arabian Desert contains several archaeological sites, some of which are thousands of years old. The most prominent example is AlUla in northwestern Saudi Arabia that hosts ancient sites of Hegra (Mada’in Saleh) and Dadan, site of an ancient kingdom. Khayber and Tayma, two fortified villages founded during the Bronze Age between 2400 and 1500 BCE, are located nearly 200 km south of AlUla. Moreover, Lisk Fort in Oman dates back to the Iron Age. 
21. An amateur archaeologist initially observed gate-like structures in the Arabian Desert in 2004. Later, a team of archaeologists and researchers searched Harrat Khayber in west-central Saudi Arabia after finding the extent of these structures on Google Earth in 2008. There, they found nearly 400 stone structures, built by nomadic tribes nearly 7,000 years ago. Some of these gates are even older than lava domes in this area. However, the purpose of these unique stony structures is still unknown. (Source)