The terrestrial team is also engaged in studying the morphology, characteristics, distribution and evolution of different landforms such as desert, coast, sand dune and wadi. Mapping of different landforms is being done. Different survey techniques and tools are being used to investigate the formation of these landforms and hazard zonation. The foremost among them is the RS-GIS being used for carrying out spatial analysis and change detection over a wide area. All these studies go a long way in preserving the ecological habitats and in protecting the associated biodiversity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Arabian Peninsula consists of a terrestrial feature like sand sea (Al-Jafurah, Ad-Dahna, The great Nafud, Nafud Ath-Thuwayrate, Nafud As-Sirr and Ar-Rub’al-Khali). Construction in the desert and sabkha areas is quite challenging due to migration of dune besides cavities present in the karst topography and sabkha. The team is focusing on mapping different landforms and hazard zonation in addition to assessing the anthropogenic impact on the landform for sustainable environmental management.