• Source: Harrat al-Sham

The Ḥarrat al-Shām (Arabic: حَرَّة ٱلشَّام), also known as the Harrat al-Harra or Harrat al-Shaba, and colloquially as the Black Desert in English, 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) 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.
The Harrat has been occupied by humans since at least the Late Epipalaeolithic (c. 12,500–9500 BCE). One of the earliest known sites is Shubayqa 1 (occupied c. 12,600–10,000 BCE), a Natufian site where archaeologists have discovered the remains of the oldest known bread.




Geology



The Harrat comprises volcanic fields formed by tectonic activity from the Oligocene through to the Quaternary. It is the largest of several volcanic fields on the Arabian Plate, containing more than 800 volcanic cones and around 140 dikes. 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. It is known to have erupted in historic times.
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 miles)-long, roughly 75 km (47 miles)-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. and is one of a series of Quaternary volcanic fields paralleling the Red Sea coast.




Archaeological sites


Desert kites




= Jordan

=
Jawa, Jordan, Early Bronze Age proto-urban settlement
Qasr al-Azraq and Qasr 'Ain es-Sil, ancient desert castles in the Azraq oasis
Qasr Burqu', ancient "desert castle"
Qasr Usaykhim, an ancient fort northeast of Azraq
Shubayqa 1, Natufian hunter-gatherer site with the oldest bread-making find in the world




See also


Syrian Desert
Hauran, a historical region partially overlapping with the Harrat al-Sham
List of volcanoes in Saudi Arabia
Sarawat Mountains
Midian Mountains




Notes






References






Further reading


Ilani, S., Harlavan, Y., Tarawneh, K., Rabba, I., Weinberger, R., Khalil, I., and Peltz, S. (2001), "New K-Ar ages of basalts from the Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic field in Jordan: Implications for the span and duration of the upper-mantle upwelling beneath the western Arabian plate" Geology 29(2):171–174
Kempe, S. and Al-Malabeh, A. (2005), "Newly discovered lava tunnels of the Al-Shaam plateau basalts", Geophysical Research Abstracts 7, European Geosciences Union
Salf, S.I. (1988), "Field and petrographic characteristics of Cenozoic basaltic rocks, Northwestern Saudi Arabia" Journal of African Earth Sciences, 7(5):805–809
Weinstein, Y., Navon, O., Altherr, R., and Stein, M., (2006) "The role of lithospheric mantle heterogeneity in the generation of Plio-Pleistocene alkali basalt suites from NW Harrat Ash Shaam (Israel)", Journal of Petrology 47(5):1017–1050
Al Kwatli, M.A., Gillot, P.Y., Zeyen, H., Hildenbrand, A., and Al Gharib, I., 2012. Volcano-tectonic evolution of the northern part of the Arabian plate in the light of new K-Ar ages and remote sensing: Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic province (Syria). Tectonophysics, 580, 192–207.




External links



Saudi Arabia portal
"Harrat Ash Shaam". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
VolcanoWorld information and aerial photograph

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Abjad Safa
• Gurun Suriah
• Harrat al-Sham
• Jeddah
• Jabal al-Nour
• Harrat al Birk
• Jabal al-Druze
• Harrat Khaybar
• Arabian Peninsula
• Arabian Desert
• Al Wahbah crater
• Jebel Shams