Global Volcanism Program | Harrat Ash Shaam

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Harrat Ash Shaam.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Harrat Ash Shaam.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Harrat Ash Shaam.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Harrat Ash Shamah | Harrat Al Sham

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Al-Lajat

Volcanic field

1050 m

33° 0' 0" N

36° 38' 0" E

Amud, Jabal al

Cone

1100 m

Dirat al-Tulul

Volcanic field

773 m

33° 30' 0" N

37° 0' 0" E

Druze, Jabal ad
    Al-Arab, Djebel
    Druz, Jabal al
    Duruz, Jabal ed
    Duraz, Jebel
    Drouz, Djebel ed

Volcanic field

1803 m

32° 39' 30" N

36° 25' 30" E

Es Safa
As Safa

Volcanic field

719 m

33° 2' 4" N

37° 11' 44" E

Golan Heights

Volcanic field

1197 m

33° 6' 0" N

35° 58' 0" E

Harrah, Al

Volcanic field

Kra Lava Field

Volcanic field

1139 m

35° 53' 53" N

36° 46' 42" E

Majdel Shams

Cone

Odem, Mount

Pyroclastic cone

1174 m

33° 11' 56" N

35° 45' 15" E

Qeni, Tell

Cone

Tal Khodr Imtan

Cone

1322 m

32° 25' 49" N

36° 48' 20" E

Tel Avital

Pyroclastic cone

1186 m

33° 6' 29" N

35° 47' 39" E

Tel Bental

Pyroclastic cone

Tell-Danum

Volcanic field

1015 m

33° 0' 20" N

36° 38' 32" E

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

231001

2670 BCE

1,100 m / 3,609 ft

32.333°N
37.583°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Rock Types

Major
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite

Minor
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Trachyandesite / Basaltic Trachyandesite
Trachyte / Trachydacite

Tectonic Setting

Intraplate
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

276,996
276,996
276,996
276,996

Geological Summary

The massive Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic province, which extends from Syria through Jordan and into northern Saudi Arabia, contains many smaller volcanic fields. Activity began during the Miocene; a younger eruptive stage, at the SE end of the field, occurred during the late-Pleistocene and Holocene (Brown et al., 1984). Al Harrah, a large basaltic volcanic field in northwestern Saudi Arabia, covers an area of 15,200 km² and forms the southern third of the harrat across a 210-km-long, roughly 75-km-wide area. Other fields include the Jabal ad Druze, Es Safa, Golan Heights, and the Kra Lava Field where radiocarbon dating indicated an eruption at 2670 BCE ± 200 years. Although a "boiling lava lake" eruption has been in the volcanological literature since 1925, a translation of the original source of that report by Wetzstein (1860) clearly shows that he was describing solidified crater floor surface features and lava flows.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Abou-Deeb J M, Otaki M M, Tarling D H, Abdeldayem A L, 1999. A palaeomagnetic study of Syrian volcanic rocks of Miocene to Holocene age. Geof Internac, 38: 17-26.

Al Kwatli M A, Gillot P Y, Al Gharib I A, Lefevre J C, 2012. Intergration of K-Ar geochronology and remote sensing: Mapping volcanic rocks and constraining the timing of alternation processes (Al-Lajat Plateau, Syria). Quaternary International 251:22-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.019

Al Kwatli M A, Gillot P Y, Zeyen H, Hildenbrand A, 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.09.017

Barberi F, Capaldi G, Gasperini P, Marinelli G, Santacroce R, Scandone R, Treuil M, Varet J, 1980. Recent basaltic volcanism of Jordan and its implications on the geodynamic history of the Dead Sea shear zone. Accademia Nazionale Lincei, Atti Convegni Lincei, 47: 667-683.

Bender F, 1975. Geology of the Arabian Peninsula - Jordan. U S Geol Surv Prof Pap, 560-I: 1-36.

Brown G F, Schmidt D L, Huffman A C Jr, 1989. Geology of the Arabian Peninsula; shield area of western Saudi Arabia. U S Geol Surv Professional Paper 560-A (replaced Open-File Report 84-203). https://doi.org/10.3133/pp560A

Camp V E, Hooper P R, Roobol M J, White D L, 1987. The Madinah eruption, Saudi Arabia: magma mixing and simultaneous extrusion of the three basaltic chemical types. Bull Volcanol, 49: 489-508.

Camp V E, Roobol M J, 1989. The Arabian continental alkali basalt province: Part I. Evolution of Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Geol Soc Amer Bull, 101: 71-95.

Coleman R G, Gregory R T, Brown G F, 1983. Cenozoic volcanic rocks of Saudi Arabia. U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt 83-788.

De Vries H, Barendsen G W, 1954. Measurements of age by the carbon-14 technique. Nature 174:1138-1141.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior.

Ilani S, Harlavan Y, Tarawneh K, Rabba I, Weinberger R, Ibrahim K, Peltz S Stenitz G, 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: 171-174.

Krenkel E, 1925. Geologie Afrikas v. 1. Berlin.

Krienitz M-S, Haase K M, Mezger K, Eckardt V, Shaikh-Mashail M A, 2006. Magma genesis and crustal contamination of continental intraplate lavas in northwestern Syria. Contr Mineral Petr, 151: 698-716.

Krienitz M-S, Haase K M, Mezger K, Shaikh-Mashail M A, 2007. Magma genesis and mantle dynamics at the Harrat Ash Shamah volcanic field (southern Syria). J Petr, 48: 1513-1542.

Mahfoud R F, Beck J N, 1995. Petrogenesis and Geodynamic Significance of Ultramafic Inclusions and Basanite from Southern Syria. International Geology Review 37:448-470.

Mouty M, Delaloye M, Fontignie D, Piskin O, Wagner J-J, 1992. The volcanic activity in Syria and Lebanon between Jurassic and Actual. Schweiz Mineral Petrogr Mitt: 72: 91-105.

Neumann van Padang M, 1963. Arabia and the Indian Ocean. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields, Rome: IAVCEI, 16: 1-64.

Shaw J E, Baker J A, Menzies M A, Thirlwall M F, Ibrahim K M, 2003. Petrogenesis of the largest intraplate volcanic field on the Arabian Plate (Jordan): a mixed lithosphere-asthenosphere source activated by lithospheric extension. J Petr, 44: 1657-1679.

Snyder G A, Taylor L A, Jerde E A, Sharkov Y, Laz'ko Y, Hanna S, 1993. Petrogenesis of Garnet Pyroxenite and Spinel Periodotite Xenoliths of the Tell-Danum Alkali Basalt Volcano, Harrat As Shamah, Syria. International Geology Review 35, 1104-1120.

Trifonov V G, 2007. The Bible and geology: destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In: Piccardi L, Masse W B (eds), Myth and Geology, Geol Soc London Spec Publ, 273: 133-142.

Trifonov V G, Dodonov A E, Sharkov E V, Golovin D I, Chernyshev I V, Lebedev V A, Ivanova T P, Bachmanov D M, Rukieh M, Ammar O, Minini H, Al Kafri A M, Ali O, 2011. New data on the Late Cenozoic basaltic volcanism in Syria, applied to its origin. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 199: 177-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.01.013

Weinstein Y, 2007. A transition from strombolian to phreatomagmatic activity induced by a lava flow damming water in a valley. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 159: 267-284.

Weinstein Y, Weinberger R, Calvert A, 2013. High-resolution 40Ar/39Ar study of Mount Avital, northern Golan: reconstructing the interaction between volcanism and a drainage system and their impact on eruptive styles. Bull Volcanol, 75: 712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-013-0712-7

Eruptive History

There is data available for 1 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

[ 1850 ± 10 years ] Discredited Eruption

The CAVW noted that: "The volcanic region es Safa...consists of lava flows that emanated from a series of craters and low walls. In the middle of the 19th century in one of [the craters] WETZSTEIN (KRENKEL, 1925) found 'a boiling lava lake, the level of which rose and sank'. DUBERTRET (1929, p. 40) however said, that volcanic activity in this region is completely extinguished." Camp et al. (1987) showed an 1850 CE eruption from Jabal Druse on a regional map, which seems to be a reference to this Es Safa activity.

2670 BCE ± 200 years Confirmed Eruption

Episode 1 | Eruption

Kra lava field

2670 BCE ± 200 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (calibrated)

List of 3 Events for Episode 1 at Kra lava field

Start Date	End Date	Event Type
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow
- - - -	- - - -	Property Damage

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Harrat Ash Shaam.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Harrat Ash Shaam.

Photo Gallery

The Golan Heights basaltic volcanic field lies NE of Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee) in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains of SW Syria near the borders with Lebanon and Israel. Lake Tiberius, whose surface lies below sea level, is at the upper left in this NASA Space Shuttle image (N is to the upper right). The volcanic field contains 56 scoria cones of Pliocene-to-Holocene age and includes the prehistoric cone of Majdel Shams in the Golan Heights.

NASA Space Shuttle image STS060-97-24, 1994 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

The dark-colored lava flows in this NASA International Space Station image (N to the left) lie at the south end of the Es Safa volcanic field. This basaltic field (also referred to as As Safa), lies SE of the capital city of Damascas (Dimashq) and contains at least 38 scoria cones. This volcanic field lies within the northern part of the massive alkaline Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic field that extends from southern Syria to Saudi Arabia.

NASA International Space Station image ISS007-E-8414, 2003 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

Snow-capped Tell Qeni is the highest point of the Jabal ad Druze volcanic field, the southernmost in Syria. It lies in the Haurun-Druze Plateau in SW Syria near the border with Jordan. The field consists of a group of 118 basaltic volcanoes active from the lower-Pleistocene to the Holocene.

Anonymous photo by Wikipedia user KFZI310, 2006.

The 100,000 km² Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic field extends from the NW corner to the SE corner of this February 2021 Planet Labs satellite image monthly mosaic (N is at the top; this image is approximately 480 km across). The Harrat contains several volcanic fields including Al Harrah, Jabal ad Druze, Es Safa, Golan Heights, and the Kra Lava Field.

Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2021 (https://www.planet.com/).

GVP Map Holdings

Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Harrat Ash Shaam in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Harrat Ash Shaam. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Harrat Ash Shaam. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Harrat Ash Shaam

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).