[H-CG23] Cultural Hydrology

[HCG23-01] Traditional water resource use in arid and narrow areas as seen in rain-fed farming facilities in the Musandam region of southeast Arabia

*Yasuhisa Kondo^1,2, Taichi Kuronuma³, Kantaro Tanabe⁴ (1.Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 2.The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 3.Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 4.The University of Tokyo)

Keywords:Waab, Arid and narrow areas, Southeast Arabia, Archaeological geography, Traditional water resource use

The United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, located in Southeast Arabia, are in a dry region with less than 100mm of annual rainfall, but in recent years there have been frequent flood damage due to rapid urbanisation and the drainage infrastructure not being able to keep up. The northern part of this area is called Musandam and faces the Strait of Hormuz. The Musandam region is known for its steep topography of Rias subsiding coastlines. Traditional water-retaining agricultural facilities called wa'ab (pl. awab), meaning terrace, can be seen in various places. These are terraced fields created using stone walls on a narrow alluvial fan or ridge with a steep mountain range behind it, and they make good use of seasonal rainfall to grow wheat, barley, and sorghum. In this presentation, we discuss the characteristics of traditional water resource use in arid and narrow areas by mapping wa'ab systems using satellite images and categorising them based on ground-truth observations.