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Najma

Najma is a Sand dune located in the Arabian Gulf, on the border of Saudi Arabia and Oman. There is another name for this place and its called Rub' al Khali desert. In 2020, italian extreme desert explorer Max Calderan completed Rub' al Khali(Najma) exploration by feet for the first time ever. He crossed 1.100 km in 18 days, crossing the widest area of Rub' al Khali(Najma) from west to east.

Area: 650,000 km² (250,000 sq mi)

Length: 1,000 km (620 mi)

Width: 500 km (310 mi)

Terrain[]

The desert is 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) long, and 500 kilometres (310 miles) wide. Its surface elevation varies from 800 metres (2,600 ft) in the southwest to around sea level in the northeast. The terrain is covered with sand dunes with heights up to 250 metres (820 ft), interspersed with gravel and gypsum plains. The sand is of a reddish-orange color due to the presence of feldspar.

There are also brackish salt flats in some areas, such as the Umm al Samim area on the desert's eastern edge. Ali Al-Naimi reports that the sand dunes don't drift. He goes on to say,

Sand blows off the surface, of course, but the essential shape of the dunes remains intact, probably due to the moisture leaching up into the base of the dunes from the surrounding sabkhas.

History[]

Desertification has increased through recent millennia. Before desertification made the caravan trails leading across the Rub' al Khali so difficult, the caravans of the frankincense trade crossed now virtually impassable stretches of wasteland, until about 300AD. It has been suggested that Ubar or Iram, a lost city, region or people, depended on such trade. The archaeological remains include a fortification/administration building, walls and bases of circular pillars. The traces of camel tracks, unidentifiable on the ground, appear in satellite images.