Description

Rub’ al Khali, also known as The Empty Quarter, is the largest sand desert in the world. It covers 251,000 square miles (650,000 sq. km), stretching across parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. In the center of the desert there are a number of raised, hardened formations that were once the sites of shallow lakes thousands of years ago. For a sense of scale, this Overview shows approximately 135 square miles (350 sq. km) in Saudi Arabia, near the border with Oman.