Wadi Sha'am ()Mindat.org - Wādī ash Sha‘m, Ra’s al Khaymah, United Arab Emirates <https://www.mindat.org/feature-290852.html> is a valley or dry river with ephemeral or intermittent flow, flowing almost exclusively during the rainy season, located in the eastern United Arab Emirates, in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
It is the northernmost of the wadis in the United Arab Emirates, and forms its own drainage basin of ,Application of a hydrological model in a data poor arid region catchment: a case study of Wadi Ham - Mohamed Mustafa Al Mulla PhD Thesis Academic Year 2005-2006 - Supervisor: Dr Ian P. Holman - December 1, 2005 - Cranfield University at Silsoe - Institute of Water and Environment <https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/items/c116d8d5-f80b-4c8b-b754-7507d3abec27> bordered to the north and east by the Sultanate of Oman; to the south by the Wadi Ghalilah catchment basin, and to the west by the Persian Gulf.
This small valley, located on the edge and almost at sea level, is surrounded by mountains with high and vertical cliffs, in which spectacular waterfalls form when it rains torrentially.محمد المرزوقي / Mohammed Al-Marzouqi - شلالات وادي شعم ، شمال امارة رأس الخيمة كما لم تشاهد من قبل / Wadi Shaam waterfalls, north of Ras Al Khaimah, like you've never seen them before, 03-01-2022 (YouTube) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyCxhk4KYg>
Among the surrounding mountains, with a maximum height of , the Jabal Khabb (), the Aqabat Tibat (), the Jabal Hudayd (), the Jabal Qandus (), the Jabal Saddariyyah () and the Jabal Al Jir (), which, despite its modest height, constitutes an iconic landmark for the valley, due to its proximity to the two main population centers: the coastal cities of Sha'am and Al Jeer/Al Jir.
The entire Wadi Sha'am drainage basin contains approximately 30 independent streams, most of which are unnamed. The main tributaries of Wadi Sha'am are Wadi Al Gabbah, Wadi Al Maryalen, and Wadi Qaf'a.
Course
Wadi Sha'am flows from east to west. Its main source is located on top of the cliff, next to the drainage divide, at an approximate altitude of , and considering the initial section, in which it falls in a cascade towards the valley, it has a total length of approximately . OpenStreetMap.org - Way: Wadi Sha'am (1274246327) <https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1274246327#map=14/26.04584/56.12192&layers=C>
At the beginning of its middle course, after its confluence with the Wadi Al Gabbah, it forms a well-defined channel, which as it advances through the central plain of the valley, gradually thins out and naturally forks into multiple braided channels, intertwined and interspersed with small islands of sediment.
However, as Wadi Sha'am approaches the coast, the presence of numerous homes, farms, and other structures along its banks increases, necessitating channelization works, especially from the point of its confluence with Wadi Al Maryalen, and as it passes through the city of Al Jeer/Al Jir, where the channel of the main wadi divides into two parallel channels that join at the end of the urban area.
At its mouth, the wadi runs through an area occupied mainly by agricultural plantations, protected by high walls and crisscrossed by numerous alleys, which in times of heavy rain act as drainage channels and channel its waters to the sea.
Dams and Reservoirs
Like other regions of the UAE, the Wadi Sha'am area has occasionally been affected by unusually heavy rainfall and flooding.
To prevent the danger of flash floods and increase the recharge potential of groundwater, an high dam was built across its channel in 2001, holding a reservoir of and a capacity of 0.25 million cubic meters.
It was officially named Wadi Sha'am Dam (coordinates: 26°01′59″N, 56°06′54″E).Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations AQUASTAT - FAO's Global Information System on Water and Agriculture https://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/databases/damsMinistry of Energy and Infrastructure in UAE - Federal Dams https://admin.bayanat.ae/Home/DatasetInfo?dID=lFWr8jmvtTwdCtQd7uDtLjOq-EB6rfmemu-OtkcDuCo&langKey=en>
Toponymy Alternative names: Wādī ash Sha‘m, Wādī Sha‘am, Wadi Sha'am, Wadi Sha'm, Wadi Shaam.
The name of Wadi Sha'am (with the spellings Wadi Sha'am and Wādī ash Sha‘m), its tributaries, mountains and nearby towns, was recorded in the documentation and maps produced between 1950 and 1960 by the British Arabist, cartographer, military officer and diplomat Julian F. Walker, during the work carried out to establish the borders between the then called Trucial States, FCO 18/1932 - 1958 Sketch map drawn by Julian Walker for boundary delimitation: Ras Al Khaimah - The National Archives, London, England <https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fco/18/1932/n/1> later completed by the UK Ministry of Defence, with 1:100 000 scale maps published from 1971.FCO 18/1894 1975 Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Khasab - Scale 1:100 000 - Published by D Survey, Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom (1971) - Edition 3-GSGS - The National Archives, London, England <https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fco/18/1894/n/1>
In the National Atlas of the United Arab Emirates it appears with the spelling Wādī Sha‘am ().
Population
The Wadi Sha'am area was mainly populated by the Shihuh tribe, Bani Shatair section, Bani tribal area Juma. FCO 8/586 1967-1968 - Boundary between East Aden Protectorate and Muscat and Oman - The National Archives, London, England <https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/fco/8/586/n/50>Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol. II. Geographical and Statistical. J G Lorimer. 1908', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C91/4, in Qatar Digital Library <http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023515720.0x000006>Lancaster, W. and Lancaster, F. (2010), Pottery makers and pottery users: in Ras al-Khaimah emirate and Musandam wilayat of Oman, and around Ra's al-Junayz in the south-east of Ja'alan wilayat, Oman. Arabian ArchaeoScience and Epigraphy, 21: 199–255. <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0471.2010.00331.x> According to the 2023 RAK Census, the area has a population of 2,539.
See also List of wadis of the United Arab Emirates List of mountains in the United Arab Emirates List of wadis of Oman List of mountains in Oman
References
External links
محمد المرزوقي / Mohammed Al-Marzouqi - شلالات وادي شعم ، شمال امارة رأس الخيمة كما لم تشاهد من قبل / Wadi Shaam waterfalls, north of Ras Al Khaimah, as you've never seen them before, 01/03/2022 (YouTube) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyCxhk4KYg>