Majlis Al Jinn
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Majlis al Jinn, also ''Majlis al-Jinn'' (, ) is one of the ten largest known
cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...
chambers in the world, as measured by the surface area of the floor. However this list changes with every new discovery. The cave is located in a remote area of the Selma Plateau at 1,380 metres above sea level in the Sultanate of
Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
, 100 km south-east from
Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
.


Description

The Selma Plateau is a shallow
syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimposed ...
on the north-eastern limb of the Jabal Bani Jabir
anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...
. The cave was formed in fossiliferous carbonate rocks of the Middle
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
Hadhramaut Hadhramaut ( ; ) is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Mahrah, Dhofar in southwestern Oman, and Sharurah in the Najran Province of Saudi A ...
Group, Dammam Formation.Majlis Al Jinn Cave. Public Authority for Water Resources, Sultanate of Oman: Report PAWR 85-20, October 1985Majlis al Jinn - Khoshilat Maqandeli cave , Wondermondo
accessed on 7 August 2010.
It is one of five vertical cave entrances on the Selma Plateau, but the only one with no lower exit. Majlis al Jinn is a single chamber measuring about 310 metres by 225 metres, with a domed ceiling 120 metres high and three entrances in the roof. The totally free-standing roof is only about 40 metres thick over most of the cave. The deepest part of the cave is 178 metres below the top of the highest entrance. The volume of the chamber is approximately 4,000,000 cubic metres, and the floor area is 58,000 square metres. When it was surveyed in 1985, Majlis al Jinn was the second largest known cave chamber in the world by volume.
/ref> However, more than 15 chambers larger than Majlis al Jinn have been surveyed since that time. There are no visible lower exits or passages leading from the chamber–these passages most likely have been blocked by debris on the cave floor. Water entering the cave collects along the lowest part of the floor, then slowly infiltrates into the fine-grained, mud-cracked
sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
or evaporates. The entrances receive
surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...
from only a small drainage area, so water never reaches most parts of the cave. While surface temperatures can exceed 40 °C, air temperatures in the chamber are a constant 17–18 °C. Access to the cavern is only through a free descent of one of three vertical entrances in the ceiling, formed by water seeping through the weakened marly limestone in the zones of fracturing. The two largest entrances are called Asterisk (Khoshilat Beya Al Hiyool) and First Drop (Khoshilat Maqandeli), the smallest is Cheryl's Drop (Khoshilat Minqod). Entrance depths: Cheryl's Drop - 158.2 meters. Asterisk - 139.6 meters. First Drop - 118.0 meters. Below the two larger entrances are high piles of rocks ("breakdown.") The remains of goats, birds, and snakes have been found on the floor of the chamber. The entrance openings in the ceiling provide ambient light in the chamber most of the day. There are only a few
stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...
s and draperies on the ceiling and walls, but moderate and fragile
speleothem A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation made by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depen ...
s are common on the floor. Growth only occurs during times of seepage and drips following heavy rains.


Access

Until fairly recently there had not been a way to reach the cave by car, so cavers had to hike in carrying their equipment or rent
donkeys The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
from a village a few hours walk from the cave entrance. The original explorers, Don and Cheryl, often flew into the area by helicopter. Now the cave can be reached on a rough track, which requires
four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...
. Cavers entering Majlis al Jinn require about 200m of specialized rope and equipment to descend and ascend safely. For several years tourism companies had been providing caving trips into Majlis al Jinn, providing equipment and training. Majlis al Jinn had grown in popularity as a
BASE jumping BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...
site, particularly for special promotions.
Felix Baumgartner Felix Baumgartner (; born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver, daredevil and BASE jumper. He is widely known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon from the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico, United States, as p ...
is known to have BASE jumped in the cave. However the uncontrolled use of the cave for BASE jumping and the degradation of the area surrounding the cave seem to be the main reason behind the cave being placed off limits by the Oman government in 2008.Oman's Tourism Balancing Act: Financial Times, July 16 2008
/ref> In 2008, the Ministry of Tourism issued a plan to develop Majlis al Jinn as a
show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...
, after their first show cave attracted 75,000 visitors in the first year of operation (2007-8). In 2014, rock climbers
Stefan Glowacz Stefan Glowacz (born March 22, 1965, in Tittmoning) is a German professional rock climber and adventurer. He started climbing at the age of 12 and advanced to one of the world's strongest competition climbers and sport climber a few years late ...
and
Chris Sharma Chris Omprakash Sharma (born 23 April 1981) is an American rock climber who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. He dominated sport climbing for the decade after his 2001 ascent of '' Real ...
abseiled into the cave and climbed out via a very steeply overhanging route up the inside of the dome, which they claimed as the world's largest unclimbed roof.


History

The entrances were discovered in June 1983 by Americans W. Don Davison, Jr. (nickname: D2) and his wife, Cheryl S. Jones. Don, a hydrogeologist, who was employed by the government of Oman's Public Authority for Water Resources (PAWR), which later became the Ministry of Water Resources. The cave was located and mapped as part of the PAWR's Karst Research Program. Exploration of Majlis Al Jinn began on 23 June 1983, when Don
rappel Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...
led down the 118m First Drop. Cheryl's Drop was first negotiated on 1 March 1984, by Cheryl Jones. The 158m drop is the deepest free rappel into any known cave in Oman or the Arabian Peninsula. Finally, Don descended the Asterisk on 22 April 1985. Don and Cheryl surveyed and photographed the cave in April and May, 1985. The map and cross sections they created, as well as photos, were originally published in the special PAWR report and have been reproduced many times since. Omanis living in the area of the Selma Plateau told Don and Cheryl that they did not have names for any of the holes on the plateau that served as entrances to the caves. Thus, Cheryl gave the cave its name, referring to the Omani belief that
jinn Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam. Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...
live in caves. Years later locals said they call the cave "Khoshilat Maqandeli" from the refuge for goats near one of the entrances. Nowadays locals refer to this cave as Khoshilat Maqandeli, while internationally it is known as Majlis al Jinn. Don authored the first published account of the cave's discovery as a special report ''Majlis Al Jinn Cave, Sultanate of Oman'', issued by the PAWR in October, 1985. A second article by Don, ''Meeting Room of the Spirits'', was featured in the September–October, 1990, issue of ''
Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- lar ...
World'' magazine. Majlis al Jinn was included in a story in the April, 2003, issue of
National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
.Oman @ National Geographic Magazine
/ref>


References

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External links


Majlis Al Jinn
photos from a 2007 expedition Caves of Oman Wild caves Limestone caves Jinn-related places