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Harrat Lunayyir   »  Summary

Harrat Lunayyir

Harrat Lunayyir Photo

Country:Saudi Arabia
Subregion Name:Western Arabia
Volcano Number:0301-04-
Volcano Type: Volcanic field
Volcano Status:Historical
Last Known Eruption: 1000 (in or before)
Summit Elevation: 1370 m 4,495 feet
Latitude: 25.17°N * 25°10'0"N
Longitude: 37.75°E 37°45'0"E

Harrat Lunayyir is a basaltic volcanic field in NW Saudi Arabia, east of the Red Sea port of Umm Lajj. It contains about 50 volcanic cones that were constructed over Precambrian crystalline rocks along a N-S axis. Harrat Lunayyir is one of the smallest of the Holocene lava fields of Saudi Arabia, but individual flow lobes radiate long distances from the center of the Harrat, and flows reached the Red Sea in two places. Lava flows are basaltic to basanitic in composition, and the Holocene flows are alkali olivine basalts. One of the cones may have erupted around the 10th century AD or earlier. A seismic swarm in May 2009 was interpreted to be consistent with intrusion of an 8-km-long dike to shallow crustal levels.

Global Volcanism ProgramDepartment of Mineral SciencesNational Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian Institution

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