Ḥarrat al-Shām
Black Desert
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Location within the Levant of the wider volcanic province it is part of
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| Coordinates: 32°37′53″N 36°45′52″E / 32.63139°N 36.76444°E / 32.63139; 36.76444 | |
| Part of | Syrian Desert |
| Offshore water bodies |
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| Age | Oligocene, Neogene, Quaternary |
| Geology | Basaltic volcanic field |
| Volcanic field | Harrat Ash Shaam Volcanic Province (HASV) |
The Ḥarrat al-Shām (Arabic: حَرَّة ٱلشَّام),[1][nb 1] also known as the Black Desert,[2] is a region of rocky, basaltic desert straddling southern Syrian region and the northern Arabian Peninsula. It covers an area of some 40,000 km2 (15,000 sq mi)[citation needed] in the modern-day Syrian Arab Republic, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Vegetation is characteristically open acacia shrubland with patches of juniper at higher altitudes.[3]
The Harrat has been occupied by humans since at least the Late Epipalaeolithic (c. 12,500–9500 BCE).[4] One of the earliest known sites is Shubayqa 1 (occupied c. 12,600–10,000 BCE),[4][5]aNatufian site where archaeologists have discovered the remains of the oldest known bread.[6]
The Harrat comprises volcanic fields formed by tectonic activity from the Oligocene through to the Quaternary.[7] It is the largest of several volcanic fields on the Arabian Plate,[8] containing more than 800 volcanic cones and around 140 dikes.[7] Activity began during the Miocene; an earlier eruptive stage at the southeastern end of the volcanic field, occurred during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene.[9] It is known to have erupted in historic times.[10][11]
The Jabal al-Druze, al-Safa and Dirat al-Tulul volcanic fields, among others, form the northern and Syrian part of the ḥarra. The Saudi Arabian portion of the Harrat Ash Shamah volcanic field extends across a 210 km (130 mi)-long, roughly 75 km (47 mi)-wide northwest-southeast-trending area on the northeastern flanks of the Wadi Sirhan and reaches its 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) high point at Jabal al-Amud. It is in the Tabuk Province of northwest Saudi Arabia.[12][13] and is one of a series of Quaternary volcanic fields paralleling the Red Sea coast.
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Hills and mountains on the Arabian Peninsula
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Note: Mountains are sorted in alphabetical order, unless where it concerns ranges. The highest confirmed mountains in each country are indicated with 'HP', and those with the highest peak are indicated with 'HP', bearing in mind that in the UAE, the highest mountain and the mountain with the highest peak are different. Outcrops are indicated with 'OC', and outliers with 'OL', and anticlines with 'AC'. Volcanoes are indicated with 'V', volcanic craters with 'VC', lava fields with 'LF', and volcanic fields with 'VF'.
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