shukran, ibrahim, for the additional info.
i've also seen the other postings on mussandam axes here.
having meandered around the rub' al khali in the '80's, a bit further west from the musandam peninsula and the ramlat al-wahiba, i can appreciate the origins. a tough climate. hard to believe that up to 4-5000 years ago, like north africa, it was all green and there were flourishing cities there...
climate change is not a modern phenomena.
Linky->
lost cities of the rub' al-khali