My Travelogue: Jebel Hafeet - A Journey through its Mystery & History

A drive to the top of the mysterious mountain 'Jebel Hafeet' is an awesome & challenging experience.

Took this pic when i visited Jebel Hafeet in 2009

Location Info:

Destination point : Jebel Hafeet

Country & State: United Arab Emirates, Al Ain in Abudhabi Emirate (Border of UAE & Oman)

Distance: 150 Km (1 hr 40 min) from Dubai & 146 Km from Abudhabi

Altitude: 1250 m from sea level

Area of Interest: Geology, Archaeology, Paleontology, History & Flora/ fauna

Available species:

119 species of animals & birds, 23 species of butterflies, so many reptiles, plants etc. example - Arabian tahr, Red Foxes, Arabian leopard, Muscat Mouse-tailed bat (Rhinopoma muscatellum) very fast-moving lizard Acanthodactylus opheodurus, yellow composite plant called Anvillea garcinii

Jebel Hafeet Geology:

Around 500 million years ago, much of the Arabian landmass was covered by shallow seas that evaporated under the hot climate, leading to the formation of thick salt deposits. Another ice age occurred in the Carboniferous time some 400 million years ago. Later, when Gondwana collided with Laurasia to form the super continent of Pangea, more folding and faulting occurred in Arabia. The seas flooded the area once again, in the early Cretaceous, leading to the formation of shallow water limestones, which now are the places where can find marine fossils.

In the late Cretaceous, there was movement originating from volcanic action in the seas to the east. This caused the dark, dense crustal magma extruded by the submarine volcanoes to be pushed up, giving rise to a tremendously thick sequence of so-called ophiolite rocks, which are the main type of rock in the Hajar Mountains. Ophiolites are typical of such spreading center’s and provide the geologist with relatively rare access to rocks that are amongst the most representative of the deepest parts of the Earth’s crust. In fact, the ophiolites of the Hajar Mountains are the most extensive in the world. In the hot and humid climate they eroded rapidly.

During the Palaeocene and Oligocene (65-23 million years ago) sea levels rose and fell several times. The coastal region was periodically covered with warm tropical waters. After that the area became tectonically more stable but it began to separate from Africa along the Red Sea Rift about 25 million years ago and is currently moving northwards at an average rate of 5 cm per year. As it moved north and was pushed under Eurasia, the Zagros Mountains in Iran were formed. The straits of Hormuz closed and in the rapidly subsiding basin thick layers of salt and gypsum were deposited. The collision caused large scale folding of the limestones, evidence of which can be seen in Jebel Faiyah and Jebel Hafeet.

The UAE coast rose above sea level in the late Miocene/ early Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago) and the Arabian Gulf filled with water again about 4 million years ago. Fossil evidence shows that in the late Miocene there were lush riverine valleys in the west of Abu Dhabi with savannahs populated by elephant, giraffe, rhinoceros and many other animals. About 8000 years ago the lowered sea level allowed sand to be blown into Abu Dhabi from Saudi Arabia and in the last 6000 years the Arabian climate has become steadily drier.

Took this pic when i visited Jebel Hafeet in 2009

Jebel Hafeet mountain is one of the must visit destination in UAE, lies on the border of UAE & Oman, located in the district of Al Ain in the Emirate of Abudhabi.

With Hokkins, Sajith & Pramod in 2008

It is one of my favourite holiday spot, already covered more than 6 times. Ideal to go for a trip in winter season to enjoying the foggy cool climate, valley greeneries and highest peaks. The drive in a curly highway built through the majestic rocks is so interesting & wonderful and never miss some breath taking views. We need to cover 21 hair pin turns minimum to reach at the top of the mountain platform.

There are several parking lots along the way which provide ample viewing opportunities and beautiful backdrops for photo shoots. In the night it gives a stunning view of the city.

With Sajith & Pramod in 2009

Its topography varies from coast to coast. It contains bare, rocky peaks, cut by deep, winding wadis. Jebel Hafeet is also a source of fossil finds which provide proof of ancient life-forms.

The discovery of calcified corals establishes that the region was once covered by the sea.

It can be classified as a combination of lower limestone, Gypsum & Calcite rocks. It was once used to be the beaches of an ancient sea – the sea of Tethys. When volcanic action at the bottom of this sea caused the ocean bottom to rise and fold, the beaches also rose and folded and now form fossil bearing hills dating from the Tertiary era. The Jebel Hafeet anticline is the largest of several Tertiary antiforms. The mountain is eroded in such a way that the composing layers can be easily observed at the surface.

The mountain formations are rich in deep sea planktonic fossils called foraminifera.

At the foot of the mountain, close to a man-made gap, fossils of branching corals, oysters, gastropods and more rarely sea urchins and pieces of barnacles and crab claws can be found. One type of fossil that is special to this mountain is called ‘nummulites’.These nummulites are the remains of a now extinct one-celled organism, varying in size from 3 to 15 mm

All the above information’s forces me to believe that this rocky formations were once the deepest trenches of an ancient sea, now also very clearly we can see the wave marks on the rocks, something like an erosion.

One time when i went there with my friends (Sajith, Pramod & Praveen), we got a rare chance or we took a risky attempt to climb over a rocky area in Jebel Hafeet.

in 2009 with Praveen & Sajith

in 2009 with Praveen

in 2009 with Pramod

Sajith in 2008

Another interesting formations are Tortuous cave systems. It have been carved into the mountain when vast volumes of water percolated into the bedrock via open and interconnected fractures and through the more permeable limestones. Some caves contain excellent stalactites, stalagmites and other cave tufas. These caves were home to up to seven species of bats, the most common being the Muscat Mouse-tailed bat (Rhinopoma muscatellum). Unfortunately, most of the accessible caves have either been blocked by the Al Ain Municipality for safety or have been plugged naturally by sediment fill.

stalagmite from one of the caves has been dated to 337,000 years ago, but the passages are much older and originate from either a water-past environment or a phase hydrothermal activity.

Its a paradise for the bird watchers & butterfly watchers. Plenty of plant, animal, reptile, insects species are available.

Archeologists identified almost 317 tombs dating to 3200-2700 BC. Excavations of only 25 of these tombs so far have yielded pottery, stone beads and bits of copper. The pottery was not locally made but imported from Mesopotamia. This suggests that these people had trade links with Mesopotamia. There was also trade with the Upper Gulf as indicated by the find of a so-called “Dilmun” seal, dated to the late third or early second millennium BC.

Another interesting this is the presence of fist-sized rocks whose origins remain a mystery. Theories range from them being representions of the night sky created by ancient tribes to random piles created during oil prospecting in the area Some are grouped together to form low, circular pyramids, positioned at almost equal distance from each other. Others are arranged into parallel rectangular shapes. In addition to stones, some of the piles have pieces of coral.

After visiting Jebel Hafeet, at the base there is another picnic spot with unbelievable greenery especially in the desert. Actually this place formed due to some tectonic activities. The main attraction here is a natural hot spring, where the spring water temperature will be approximately 40 deg centigrade. It is believed that because of the composition of water and its temperature, it can heal the problems of the leg & feet.

I read the following informations about the formation of the hot spring from Gulf News, According to Dr Abdulrahman Fowler, a geologist and professor at the UAE University in Al Ain, the hot spring source lies deep underground, the result of thousands of years of tectonic plate movement.This movement created fractures that serve as channels bringing water up to the surface. The UAE lies near areas of active earthquake faults, it is on the edge of the tectonic area that lies beneath Iran, and with the occurrence of the seismic activity fractures occur. It is through these fractures that the water rises to the surface.The fact that the water temperature of the springs at the Green Mubazzarah is between 40°C and 45°C indicates that it's coming from as deep as two kilometres underground, as the water heats up by 25°C for every 1,000 metres that it travels to the surface.