The Al Whabah Crater in Saudi Arabia. Centre of the crater.
Wikipedia: Al Wahbah Crater (Arabic: فَوْهَة ٱلْوَعْبَة, romanized: Fawhat al-Waʿbah), also Maqlaʿ Ṭamiyyah (مَقْلَع طَمِيَّة), is a volcanic crater, which is about 250 kilometres (160 miles) away from Ta'if, on the western edge of the Harrat Kishb basalt plateau in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. The Harrat Kishb plateau contains many volcanic cones. It is 250 m (820 ft) deep and 2 km ( mi) in diameter. The bottom of the crater is covered with white sodium phosphate crystals. 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 coming into contact with subterranean water. 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.
Size: 7321px × 4886px
Location: Al Wahbah Crater, Saudi Arabia
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: al, arabia, basalt, bert, crater, crystals, de, east, harrat, horizontal, kishb, lake, landscape, maar, middle, panorama, phosphate, plateau, rim, ruiter, saudi, shallow, sodium, travel, volcanic, volcanism, wabah, wahbah, white
