Extremely rare first geological map of Qatar

[Qatar]. Cavelier, Claude / Salatt, Abdulla / Heuze, Yves. Qatar Geological Map (H.H. the Ruler of Qatar Sheet No. 1). (With): Geological Description of the Qatar Peninsula (Arabian Gulf). Explanation of the 1/100,000 geological maps of Qatar.

€ 8,500.00

Still the most extensive geological survey of the country: two principal outputs from the BRGM Geological Survey of Surface Formations of Qatar (1969-70), undertaken for the Department of Petroleum Affairs to assess surface formations and mineral resources.

The large-format map (Sheet No. 1) plots the peninsula and islands in colour, combining geological information with a surprisingly detailed record of infrastructure and landscape, including roads and tracks, oil and water wells, pipelines, watercourses, cultivation, sabkha, dunes, depressions, outcrops, graves, and principal points. Cavelier’s accompanying Geological Description serves as the explanatory text to the 1:100,000 sheets, and extends beyond stratigraphic description to notes on topography, hydrology, and aspects of the contemporary economy and rural development, with folding diagrams for field use.

Prepared on the eve of Qatar’s independence, the survey’s mapping programme furnished an early, practical geological baseline for a rapidly expanding petro-state, and for later national mapping initiatives. Reportedly issued in only 1000 copies per sheet, the early Qatar geological sheets are now seldom encountered complete, and the present pairing preserves map and explanation together.