Al Wahbah Crater (), also ''Maqlaʿ Ṭamiyyah'' (), is a

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

crater, which is about away from

Ta'if Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarawat Mountains, Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 pe ...

on the western edge of the Harrat Kishb basalt plateau in the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

i region of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

(lat. 22.90632, lon. 41.13849). The Harrat Kishb plateau contains many volcanic cones. It is deep and in diameter. The bottom of the crater is covered with white

sodium phosphate A sodium phosphate is a generic variety of salts of sodium () and phosphate (). Phosphate also forms families or condensed anions including di-, tri-, tetra-, and polyphosphates. Most of these salts are known in both anhydrous (water-free) and ...

crystals.

Origin

While it was thought for some time that the crater was formed by a

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

, as its appearance resembles that of the

Barringer Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called ...

, with its circular form and high sides, it is now commonly accepted by geologists that the crater is a

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

crater, and was formed by volcanic activity in the form of an underground

phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...

– a massive steam explosion generated by molten basaltic

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

coming into contact with subterranean water.

Vegetation

The remains of date palm plantations can be found halfway down the side of the crater, but they are disused. There are springs near the plantations. It is easy to climb down from the rim to the bottom of the crater there from the north side on a prepared path, although most of the circumference has steep unclimbable cliffs. At the top of the path is a stone hut which contains rubbish and debris, and some suitable places for camping, although there are better places to camp to the south (see below). In the north of the Wahbah Crater, there is some vegetation located.

Tourism

It takes a person 45–60 minutes to go to the bottom of the crater. This crater is very slippery and it is hard for people to come up to the surface. To climb back up takes approx 60–90 minutes. There is some mobile phone signal within the crater, and the site receives very few visitors, even over weekends. As of April 2017, there has been upgrades to the park. A stone wall has been erected about 1/4 to 1/3 of the crater rim from the northwest to southwest. There is a mosque at the end of the entrance road. There are also upgraded picnic shelters around the rim. File:Wahbah Crater Panorama.JPG, Panorama File:Wahbah Crater Palm Trees.JPG,

Palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

s File:Wahbah Crater Centre.png, Centre of the crater File:Wahbah Crater From An Airplane.jpg, Wahbah Crater From An Airplane

References

External links

Mekshat

Global Volcanism Program

3D model of the crater
{{Mountains in the Arabian Peninsula Maars Volcanoes of Saudi Arabia Hejaz

Origin

Vegetation

Tourism

See also

References

External links