Montane and Wadi vegetation

Authors: Ulrich Deil AbdulNasser al Gifri

Publish Date: 1998

Volume: , Issue: , Pages: 125-174

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Abstract

To AucherÉloy and other early travellers the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula presented a rugged and difficult terrain for passage and today the more remote regions have yet to yield their final secrets These mountain chains lying on the western southwestern and eastern periphery of the Peninsula were uplifted during the period of the great Alpine orogeny from the Mid Tertiary onwards and they were thereafter eroded often dramatically during successive pluvial periods see Chapter 3 Today these mountains exert a strong influence on the climate of the Peninsula see Chapter 2 and the soil and vegetation structure of their slopes valleys and summits undoubtedly play a vital though as yet largely undocumented role in the hydrogeology of the region From the Tertiary onwards the mountains were important phytogeographically providing a relatively equable climatic ‘corridor’ between Africa and Asia and vice versa during the Late Tertiary see Chapter 4 and today the higher altitudes provide a climatic refuge for species that once had much wider distributions“We climbed the mountain for two hours following an extremely steep path and set up camp near the village of Oukend Wakkan Palm trees had by then disappeared and temperate zone plants appeared I climbed as high as I could but I could not reach the summit of the mountain I kept coming upon precipitous rocks which proved to be insurmountable obstacles”

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