Wadi Sidr is a seasonal watercourse, or
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...
, in the
Hajar Mountains
The Hajar Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ٱلْحَجَر, Jibāl al-Ḥajar, ''The Rocky Mountains'' or ''The Stone Mountains'') in northeastern Oman and also the eastern United Arab Emirates are the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian ...
of
Fujairah
Fujairah City ( ar, الفجيرة) is the capital of the emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is the seventh-largest city in UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman (part of the Indian Ocean). It is the only Emirati capital city on the ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
. It runs in a south-westerly direction from the village of Wadi Sidr, where it is dammed by the Wadi Sidr Dam, constructed in 2001, to the confluence of the
Wadi Asimah
Wadi Asimah is a seasonal watercourse in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. It runs broadly westward from the village of Asimah to join the Wadi Fara, its confluence forming the locus between Wadi Fara and Wadi Si ...
with the
Wadi Fara
Wadi Fara is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It runs from the confluence of the Wadi Asimah and Wadi Sidr, to the village of Ghayl.
A wide and fertile wadi, its rich wildlife includes a novel species of d ...
.
The wadi takes its name from the ''sidr'' tree, ''
Ziziphus spina-christi
''Ziziphus spina-christi'', known as the Christ's thorn jujube, is an evergreen tree or plant native to northern and tropical Africa, Southern and Western Asia. It is native to the Levant, East Africa, Mesopotamia and some tropical countries. F ...
'', common in the Hajar Mountains and prized for the honey produced from its flowers. It is a fertile agricultural area traditionally home to members of the
Mazari tribe. It is a popular hiking destination.
Flooding
Although all of the Hajar Mountain wadis are prone to
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
s, Wadi Sidr is exceptionally so and is cited as having the highest potential for flash flooding (alongside Ain Al Faydah in
Jebel Hafit) in the Emirates. Wadi Sidr is also the watercourse with maximum flooding in the Emirates.
Geologically, Wadi Sidr passes from areas of sedimentary rock through metamorphic and altered
gabbroic
Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is che ...
rocks, complicated by thrust planes.
Gallery
File:Wadi Sidr grocery.jpg, A lone Wadi Sidr grocery
File:Wadi Sidr Camels.jpg, Camels feeding on ''ghaf'' in the Wadi Sidr
File:Wadi Sidr abandoned village.jpg, An abandoned village off the Wadi Sidr
File:Wadi Sidr dam.jpg, The Wadi Sidr Dam, constructed in 2001
File:Wadi Sidr Date Grove.jpg, A date grove in the Wadi Sidr
See also
*
List of wadis of the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates does not have any permanent rivers, but does have wadis, a permanently or intermittently dry riverbed. This is a list of wadis in United Arab Emirates arranged by drainage basin.
Persian Gulf
*Dubai Creek is sometimes cal ...
References
{{Reflist
Rivers of the United Arab Emirates
Geography of the Emirate of Fujairah