Al-Qarah Mountain or Jabal Al-Qārah (Arabic: جَبَل ٱلْقَارَة), also known as "Al-Shabaab Mountain", is a mesa of 75 metres (246 feet) in Al-Ahsa, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.[1] This mountain counts as one of the most important natural sights in Al-Ahsa, and was registered in the UNESCO world heritage center's list in 2018, after the inclusion of Al-Ahsa Oasis. It is located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) to the northeast of Al-Hofuf. Some of its caves, such as "Al-Nashab", have moderately steady temperatures throughout the year.

Geographical location

The mountain is located in Al-Ahsa Oasis, between four villages: Al-Qarah, At-Tuwaitheer, Ad-Dalwah and At-Tihemeah.[3]

Geology

The mountain's base area is about 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi), and consists of reddish colored sedimentary rocks. Also, the caves' temperature is semi-steady and moderate along the year, hovering around 20 °C (68 °F), accompanied by a gentle and cool airflow from the cave's interior to its exterior.[4] It is also consisted of limestone, sandstone, marlstone and siltstones, while the uncovered base of the mountain is composed of a thin layer of marlstone, topped with a layer of Breccias rocks, up to 17 m (56 ft), followed by limestone and sandstone with a thickness of 18 m (59 ft), after which there is are 75 m (246 ft) of sequential layers of grey crumbling sandstone, with intermittent layers of red marl and marl-alluvial, and it ends up with a cover of 2 m (6.6 ft) of limestone. Several types of the mountain's caves extend in a form of ribbed grids of cracked ground, while the others are cavities due to chemical weathering, the process of abrasion, and collapses.[citation needed]

Caves and cavities

Cave in Al-Qarah Mountain

There are 3 types of caves in the mountain:[5]

1- First type formed due to the dissolving and abrasion process of water-soluble rocks, and it is the most common type of limestone cave detected in Saudi Arabia.

2- Second type is a result of collapses of the upper layers because of chemical weathering and abrasion, therefore, the removal of lower layers lead to the formation of wide caves sometimes. The most famous cave of this type is located at the west of the mountain, and it is called "Al-Eid Cave", or "Maqarat Al-Eid", in which the events accompanying with collective wedding take a place there, and it are held annually.

3- Third type is formed because of earthquake Fissures and it is a cavernous system that takes a regular form of straight fissures, and corridors like. The number of these straight corridors reaches 28, with a length of 1.5 km (0.93 mi).

The most famous cave of this type is Al-Nashab cave which has been invested by Ahsa Tourism company under the name "Land of Civilizations project in Al-Qarah mountain". Each one of the caves has natural characteristics which made the locals take advantage of it based on their usage like the annual collective wedding, and other activities for tourists. among the most famous caves in the mountain is:

• Bu Saleh (Al-Mahdi)

• Al-Eid

• An-Naqa

• Al-Mua'adhamah

• Al-Maheub

• Al-Gairan

• An-Nashab

• Um Al-Jamajem

Formation of caves

There is a popular belief that the caves in the mountain formed as a result of tides, based on a study that was done in 1978, however, in 2006 another study denied this allegation.

Source: Wikipedia.org