Wadi Al-Rummah or ar-Rummah (ar: وادي الرمة) is one of the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

's longest river

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ov ...

s, at a length of almost . Now mostly dry and partly blocked by encroaching sand dunes, the wadi arises near

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

at Jibāl al Abyaḑ (Al-Abyad Mountain, or The White Mountain). It heads towards the north-east, connecting to several smaller wadis, like Mohalla Wadi and Murghala Wadi to the north and Jifn Wadi and Jarir Wadi to the south. It ends at Thuayrat Dunes of the ad-Dahna Desert in

Al-Qassim Province The Qassim Province ( ar, منطقة القصيم ' , Najdi Arabic: ), also known as the Qassim Region, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. Located at the heart of the country near the geographic center of the Arabian Peninsula, it has a ...

near

Buraidah Buraidah ( ar, بريدة ') is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Region in north-central Saudi Arabia in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Buraydah lies equidistant from the Red Sea to the west and Persian Gulf to the east. Its known ...

. The wadi then sinks beneath the sand dunes, where it is called Mistewy Wadi. It emerges on the other side of the desert as Wadi Al-Batin (approx. ), which continues towards the north-east and forms the western boundary of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

. It empties finally into the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...

. The valley is wide, for it was once a major river valley. According to Dr. Abdullah Al-Musnad from the University of Qassim, about 10,000 years ago it was a river flowing from Medina to the Persian Gulf, with a total length of . Periods of drought and the movement of sand at Althwairat and Dahna led to the course of the valley being cut into three parts: Wadi Al-Rummah (the longest, at ), Wadi Aloddi (), and Wadi Al-Batin (). Geological studies show that Wadi Al-Rummah flows at full capacity about three times every 100 years. It flowed most recently in 1945, 1982, 1987, 2004, 2008 and 2018. In 1818, the river valley was flooded for 40 days, in 1838 for 22 days, in 1987 and 2008 for 17 days. In 1838 the wadi overflowed, creating a lake that persisted for two years and attracted water birds which had rarely been seen in the valley.alriyadh.com
– Wadi Al-Rummah Flooding, November 2008

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References

External links

countrystudies.us
– Saudi Arabia: Topography and Natural Regions (Source: U.S. Library of Congress)
youtube.com
– Flow in November 2008 between Unaizah and Buraidah, Qassim province
mekshat.com
– Photo of 2008 flow Geography of Saudi Arabia Valleys of Saudi Arabia Rummah {{SaudiArabia-river-stub

References

Further reading

External links