Sir Abu Nu'ayr

Sir Abu Nu'ayr
Native name: صِيْر أَبُو نُعَيْر Nickname: Sir Bu Nuʽayr (صِيْر بُو نُعَيْر) ; Sir Al Qawasim (صِيْر ٱلْقَوَاسِم
	ISS image
	Sir Abu Nu'ayr Sir Abu Nuʽayr (United Arab Emirates)
Geography
Location	Persian Gulf
Coordinates	25°13′54″N 54°13′20″E / 25.23167°N 54.22222°E
Total islands	1
Area	13.23 km2 (5.11 sq mi)
Length	4.25 km (2.641 mi)
Width	4 km (2.5 mi)
Highest elevation	81 m (266 ft)
Administration
	United Arab Emirates
Emirate	Sharjah
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Sir Bu Nair Island Protected Area
Designated	2 December 2013
Reference no.	2191

Sir Abu Nuʽayr (Arabic: صِيْر أَبُو نُعَيْر, romanized: Ṣīr Abū Nuʽayr), also known as Sir Bu Nuʽayr (Arabic: صِيْر بُو نُعَيْر, romanized: Ṣīr Bū Nuʿayr), or Sir al Qawasim (Arabic: صِيْر ٱلْقَوَاسِم, romanized: Ṣīr Al-Qawāsim; also romanized as Sir Abu Neir, Sir Bu Nair or Sir Bu Nuair) is an island in the Persian Gulf.

Geography

Lying 65 kilometres (40 mi)^[3] off the coast of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, roughly 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Abu Dhabi city, and 103 kilometres (64 mi) west of Dubai, it belongs to the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Geology

The island is almost perfectly round with a diameter of 4 kilometres (2.5 miles), and a 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long extension at its southeast end, making the shape of the whole island appear as a drop.^[7]

The island is a salt-piercement structure formed by the movement of late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian Hormuz Formation salt. The salt has moved progressively upward, puncturing through the younger overlying strata to create a salt dome structure. Surface expressions are composed of evaporite rocks, plus igneous rocks and quartzitic sandstone.

Environment

The island, an environmentally protected area under the Sharjah Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA),^[8]^[9] has been registered on the list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,^[10]^[11]^[12] and was in 2012 listed as a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[13] The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of Socotra cormorants, sooty gulls and bridled terns.^[14]

Economy

Sharjah has a small harbour and an airfield (ICAO: OMSN),^[15] both located at the island's southeast end.

Crescent Petroleum is the concession holder of the area.^[16] The acreage is flanked to the north-northeast by Dubai's Fateh Oil Field complex, to the north by the Sirri Island oil field of Iran, and to the west by the prolific oil and gas fields of Abu Dhabi.