Harrat Kishb volcano is a lava field located in western Saudi Arabia, near the Al Wahbah Crater. The word Harrat in Arabic is used for the rocky terrain of a volcano field. It covers an area of around 5,900 km sq and consists of tuff rings, maars, and lava domes, making it an extremely fascinating place to visit.
Most of the Harrat Kishb volcanic field is more than 2 million years old, as it came into existence in the Pleistocene age. The lava flows and scoria cones in the area erupted over the course of a million years at least and are restricted to certain areas in the western half of the field.
Attractions
Visiting the volcanoes in the field can be a thrilling and educational experience. Two of the volcanoes are Jabal Aslaj and Jabal Hil. The Jabal Aslaj cone with its lava flows has an abundance of granitic blocks, whereas Jabal Hil has a 300-meter wide crater in Jabal Hil, which around some point in time was filled by a lava lake.
The field also has numerous lava tubes in a basaltic lava field which is situated to the northeast of Jeddah. Two of these well-known caves are Ghostly Cave (Kahf Al Ashbaah) and Mut’eb Cave (Kahf Al Mut'eb). Many people visiting the volcanic field do so in order to go inside the caves and explore them. Some of the visitors even hope to discover new underground caves that are still unexplored.
