Halul Island ( ar, جَزِيرَة حَالُول, Jazīrat Ḫālūl) is one of the most important

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s belonging to the

State of Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sha ...

. Lying about northeast of

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, it serves as a storage area and loading terminal for oil from the surrounding offshore fields. One of the main bases for the Qatari Navy is located in Halul. The Coasts and Borders Security also have a base of operations on the island. It was frequented by pearling boats in the early 1900s.

History

James Ashley Maude documented the first known discovery of the island in July 1817, referring to it as "Hawlool Island". He wrote: Maude also notes the island's close proximity to extensive pearling beds. In 1823, the first map of the island was produced by Captain George Barnes Brucks. In Brucks' memoir, published posthumously in 1856, he gave a brief account of the island as well as its geographic location. He wrote that the island is high and noted the presence of wells. It is unknown if these wells were natural occurrences, such as

sinkholes A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

, or constructed by fishermen. He also remarks on the high elevation of the island and claims it was formerly known as May Island. File:Halul Island 1823 chart.jpg, ‘Trigonometrical plan of the island of Hawlool in the Gulf of Persia’ by G.B. Brucks (1823) Scottish hydrographer

James Horsburgh James Horsburgh (28 September 176214 May 1836) was a Scottish hydrographer. He worked for the British East India Company, (EIC) and mapped many seaways around Singapore in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Life Born at Elie, Fife, Hor ...

wrote a description of the island in his 1855 guide ''The India Directory''. His account did not differ by much from the earlier description given by Maude in 1817.

Geography

The island lies 72 miles southeast of

Ras Rakan Ras Rakan ( ar, رأس راكان) is the northernmost point in the Qatari Peninsula, located in Al Shamal. It is the north-western point of an islet called Jazirat Ras Rakan, but as the channel between this islet and the mainland is not passable ...

, ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.'' and around 50 miles northeast of the capital

. It is approximately 1 mile in length. The terrain is hilly and its highest peak is 202 feet. The island is visible from a distance of about 15 miles, and there is a reef around it which extends up to 0.2 miles offshore. The island contains the easternmost landmass of Qatar. With a distance of slightly more than 80 kilometers from the nearest point of mainland Qatar, which is ''Ra’s Abū Qarn'' on the northeastern coast and in the municipality of

Al Khor Al Khor ( ar, الخور; also spelled ''Al Khawr''), officially Al Khor and Al Thakhira, is a municipality in coastal northeastern Qatar. Al Khor City, the municipal seat, is located in the northeast coast of Qatar, around from the capital, ...

, it is also the most remote island of the country. The island is susceptible to shamal winds. Located 45 miles northeast of the island is the rocky and shallow Shah Allum Shoal.

Geology

Most of the island's surface lies on the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

. The

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

period Hormuz Formation is the predominant surface layer. It is one of the only two territories of Qatar which lie on a Paleozoic surface.

Iron oxide Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...

s such as

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

and

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

are found on the island, but have been left unexploited due to the high costs of extraction and transportation.

Wildlife

The island serves as a habitat for several species of marine life and seabirds. Upwards of 80

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

s inhabit its hilly landscape, having expanded from a group of six mountain goats first transported to the island in 1963. The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) is cooperating with

QatarEnergy QatarEnergy ( ar, قطر للطاقة), formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The ...

to protect and grow the island's wildlife. Among the most important initiatives taken are the planting of 400 saline-resistant trees and the establishment of protected

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

nesting sites.

Industry

Shortly after the commencement of oil activities, in the mid-1950s the government began investing resources to convert Halul into a major oil loading terminal. The significance of the island was further realized in the 1960s after the government began establishing offshore oil fields. Between 1964 and 1966, industrial infrastructure was constructed on the island. , the island accommodates 11

external floating roof tank An external floating roof tank is a storage tank commonly used to store large quantities of petroleum products such as crude oil or condensate. It consists of an open- topped cylindrical steel shell equipped with a roof that floats on the surfac ...

s with an overall capacity of 5 million barrels of crude oil. Halul produces its own electricity. It has nine turbo generators with a power capacity of 43 MW. Halul's two desalination units have a daily capacity of .

Gallery

Sea rocks in Halul Island.jpg, Rocks at sea illuminated by the gas flares of oil refineries A mountain goat at Haloul Island.jpg, A mountain goat at the northern tip of Halul Island Sea turtle tracks on Halul Island.jpg,

Sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

tracks on the west side of Halul Island

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Islands Of Qatar Halul Islands of the Persian Gulf Lighthouses in Qatar