Microbes living within the sabkhas (salt flats) in Qatar have been discovered to contribute to the formation of minerals significantly, and sedimentary rocks, a Qatar university research has revealed. The research said these rocks are crucial in studying sedimentology, microbiology, oil geology, and material sciences.
The project led by Prof. Hamad A Rahman Al Kuwari is titled “Geobiological Processes in the Sabkhas of Qatar” and started in 2015.
It is funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) under the National Priority Research Program (NPRP). QU and ExxonMobil Research Center in Qatar, the ETH Zurich and the Space Exploration Institute in Switzerland, the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the USA, and the University of Toronto in Canada all contributed to the research.
Sabkhas are a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sand flat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate due to semi-arid to an arid climate. A 2013 study by Mahmoud Mohamed Ashour revealed that ‘the origin and evolution of sabkhas in Qatar are greatly influenced by, the low lying topography of the country, the shallow to very shallow coasts, the hot to very hot climate, sea-level changes, groundwater, geological setting, and anthropogenic interference.
The QU research labels the sabkhas of Qatar as representing “natural laboratories to test hypothesis and implement new proxies useful for the technical challenges of the energy industries and answering fundamental scientific questions.”
Professor Al Kuwari’s research was the first to investigate the sabkhas from a purely physicochemical perspective and focus on the role that biology may have in these extremely inhospitable environments. Dohat Faishakh and Khor Al Adaid sabkhas present the best environment for this research.
These microbes in the sabkhas create unusual textures and sedimentary structures that may potentially be found in a “fossil form” on the surface of Mars, which may provide a platform for understanding life on Mars and preparing for exploration of the Red Planet.
Meanwhile, away from the scientific importance of sabkhas, their aesthetic beauty also means they can be preserved and developed into tourist attractions, geoparks, and natural reserves.
