Al Wahbah Crater ( ar, فَوْهَة ٱلْوَعْبَة, Fawhat al-Waʿbah), also ''Maqlaʿ Ṭamiyyah'' (), is a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture 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 found where tectonic plates a ...

crater, which is about away from

Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...

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

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

(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 Sodium phosphate is a generic term for a variety of salts of sodium (Na+) and phosphate (PO43−). Phosphate also forms families or condensed anions including di-, tri-, tetra-, and polyphosphates. Most of these salts are known in both anhyd ...

crystals.

Origins

While it was thought for some time that the crater was formed by a meteorite, as its appearance resembles that of the Barringer Crater, with its circular form and high sides, it is now commonly accepted by geologists that the crater is a maar crater, and was formed by volcanic activity in the form of an underground phreatic eruption – 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 is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

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 called palm ...

s File:Wahbah Crater Centre.png, Centre of the crater

References

External links

Mekshat

Global Volcanism Program

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

Origins

Vegetation

Tourism

See also

References

External links