Bay of Zekreet

25°30′30″N 50°49′43″E

The Bay of Zekreet (Arabic: دَوْحَة زِكْرِيت, romanized: Dawḩat az Zikrīt) is a half-moon shaped bay on the Zekreet Peninsula in western Qatar. The Zekreet Peninsula is a rocky, sandy desert, with numerous rock formations and gypsum plateaux. The bay is situated to the north of the industrial city of Dukhan and to the southwest of the village of Zekreet.[1] It is located to the north of the Dukhan Sabkha, and is separated by a straight depression known as Rawdat Jarrah.[2] Geologists have theorized that this depression was an extension of the Bay of Zekreet prior to the drop in sea levels c. 3,000 years ago.[3]

Geology

The area spanning from Dukhan to the upper part of the Bay of Zekreet is the only surface of Qatar where an entire section of the Eocene Dammam Formation is exposed.[1]

History

A settlement dating to the early 19th century was discovered at the southern end of the bay, and was possibly presided over by the pirate ruler of Qatar, Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah. Another archaeological site, Uwaynat Ali, is found on the other side of the bay.[4]

The western side of the bay hosted the shallow-water harbor used to unload supplies for Qatar's oil industry.[5] The growth of the modern village of Zekreet, which is across the bay, was dependent on this harbor. Shortly after the Mesaieed Harbor opened in 1952 it was made obsolete.[6]

References
  1. Jacques Leblanc (December 2015). "A Historical Account of the Stratigraphy of Qatar, Middle-East (1816 to 2015)": 513. Retrieved 22 February 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Ian West; Maryam Mustafa Al-Mulla (2013). "Qatar Geology, Sabkhas, Evaporites and Other Desert Environments". University of Southampton. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  3. Ashour, Mahmoud Mohamed (2013). "Sabkhas in Qatar Peninsula" (PDF). Landscape and Geodiversity. ICCS, Spiru Haret University (1): 13. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  4. Alexandrine Guérin; Faysal ʿAbdallah al-Naʾimi (2008). "Nineteenth century settlement patterns at Zekrit, Qatar: pottery, tribes and territory". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 38: 173–185. JSTOR 41223947.
  5. "West of Doha". askexplorer.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. Fahd Abdul Rahmn Hamad Al-Thani (1992). "The Spatial Impact of the Hydrocarbon Industry on Land and Sea Use in Qatar" (PDF). University of Durham; Durham e-Thesis. p. 148.
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