Dhalkout: A team comprising Omani and international researchers conducted a marine geological survey of a newly discovered hot water spring on the coast of the Wilayat of Dhalkout in Dhofar Governorate.
Hot water springs constitute a rich source of scientific data being a rare geological phenomenon in the Sultanate of Oman.
A joint team from the Ministry of Agricultural, Fisheries and Water Resources, the German GEOMAR Institute, the Earth Sciences Consultancy Centre, and the Dhofar Adventures Team, collected samples of water, soil and rocks surrounding the hot spring which has a temperature of up to 80 degrees Celsius. The team also developed a device for measuring the flow rate of water from the marine spring during different seasons in order to locate the source of the spring and identify the changes in water temperature throughout the year.
Engineer Mohammad bin Khalfan Shammas, head of the Department of Dams, Aflaj and Protection Walls at the Department of Water Resources, said that the joint team examined a group of water springs in the mountains surrounding the sea in the Wilayat of Dhalkout to compare between the characteristics of the water in marine and land hot spring.
He pointed out that the preliminary results showed that the salinity of hot water springs is approximately one-third of the salinity of seawater. He added that the scientific team will continue analyzing samples to identify the characteristics of the water and sediments.
Dr Mohammad bin Hilal al Kindi, head of the Earth Sciences Consultancy Centre, said that the hot water gushes out from small nozzles at a depth of 18 metres from the sea surface and the water appears on the surface in the form of non-stop water vortexes that are well-known by the residents of the Wilayat of Dhalkout. He explained that the main hot spring is located to the west of the Wilayat of Dhalkout 5 kilometres away from the sea port and just 250 metres from the seashore. — ONA
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