TO learn more about the beauty
of the Omani mountains and wadis and the science behind, ten students of the
German University of Technology in Oman (GUTech) went with three visiting
students from RWTH Aachen University and two GUTech professors on a
geological tour to Wadi Al Abyad (Batinah region) last week. “The message of
our study tour is that GUTech students are connected to fellow students from
RWTH Aachen University. We encourage students to network between the two
affiliated universities.”
The group of students started out in the morning in landcruisers and drove
along Sultan Qaboos Street to Nakhal. “About two kilometers inside the earth
the water is very hot, up to 60 degrees and higher,” said Professor Janos
Urai, Dean of the Faculty of Science at German University of Technology in
Oman during the short break inside the oasis of Nakhal. There, they
discussed origin of the underground water resources in Oman and the hot
springs like Ain Al Thawara, located beside Nakhal. After a while the group
drove on to Wadi Al Abyad.
There, GUTech students learned how to differentiate between different kinds
of rocks which shine green, brown and grey. “Brown rocks can be green
inside. The brown color is iron oxide and means the rock is rusty. This
phenomenon is called weathering,” said Urai while climbing a huge rock.
The massive green rocks found in Wadi Al Abyad belong to the Earth’s Mantle,
which is found only deep within our planet. “Imagine, more than 60
kilometers deep! Many scientists come from all over the world to the
Sultanate to see the Earth’s mantle, or the so-called Ophiolites,” said Urai.
He believes that Oman is the best place on earth where the mantle can be
studied on the surface.
The earth consists of three different layers: the Core which is molten iron,
the Mantle which is a huge shell of rocks, thousands of kilometers thick and
the Crust. The Crust covers our planet and is divided into the Continental
Crust and the Ocean Crust.
The boundary between the Crust and the Mantle is called Moho, since Andrija
Mohorovicic discovered it in 1909. The Moho can be seen in the middle of
Wadi Abyad. “The Crust is constantly moving across the Earth surface as fast
as your nails are growing. One plate is sliding underneath the other, which
is called subduction. This is very slow process but it leads to the
formation of volcanoes and earthquakes,” explained Urai.
The three students Zoe, Max and Simon advised others to take notes during
the excursion. “With the help of the GPS, you can always note the
coordinates of the location of the rocks. Someone who has never visited this
place needs to find the rocks with the help of your notes. Therefore, it is
also very useful to make notes and drawings, otherwise you might forget
about it after a few days,” said Zoe Sobisch, who studies Geosciences at
RWTH Aachen University.
Zoe is in her fourth year in Geosciences and was in the Sultanate for the
first time. “I love to be outside and I love science,” said Zoe when asked
why she has chosen Geosciences. Zoe has been to other field trips in Europe
and Canada. Currently she is collecting data for her master thesis near Al
Hamra on “Fluid migration through faults”.
For the GUTech students who are in their foundation year the Geosciences
Tour was a unique experience. “I really enjoyed driving through the wadi and
discovering so many new things,” said one of the students when they returned
to Muscat. The students look forward to the next tour scheduled in a couple
of months.
GUTech, the first German University in the Gulf region, is affiliated to
RWTH Aachen University, one of the elite universities in Germany and a
member of the European IDEA league. Currently students can enroll for
GUTech’s four Bachelor programmes: Urban Planning and Architectural Design,
Regional Management and Tourism, Applied Geosciences and Applied Information
Technology.
