The Ḥarrat al-Shām (), also known as the Harrat al-Harra or Harrat al-Shaba, and sometimes the Black Desert in English, is a region of rocky, basaltic desert straddling southern Syrian region and the northern Arabian Peninsula. It covers an area of some in the modern-day Syrian Arab Republic, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Vegetation is characteristically open acacia shrubland with patches of juniper at higher altitudes.S.A. Ghazanfar, Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula (Springer Science & Business Media, 1998) p 272.

The Harrat has been occupied by humans since at least the Late Epipalaeolithic (). One of the earliest known sites is Shubayqa 1 (occupied ), a Natufian site where archaeologists have discovered the remains of the oldest known bread.

Geology

The Harrat is part of a system of volcanic fields formed by tectonic activity from the Oligocene through to the Quaternary. This system, which geologists refer to as the 'Harrat Ash Shamah Volcanic Field', is the largest of several volcanic fields on the Arabian Plate, containing more than 800 volcanic cones and around 140 dikes. Activity began during the Miocene; an earlier eruptive stage at the southeastern end of the volcanic field, occurred during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene.H. Stewart Edgell, Arabian Deserts: Nature, Origin and Evolution (Springer Science & Business Media, 21 Jul., 2006 ) p329-330 It is known to have erupted in historic times.Peter Vincent, Saudi Arabia: An Environmental Overview (CRC Press, 2008) p22.

The Jabal al-Druze, al-Safa and Dirat al-Tulul volcanic fields, among others, form the northern and Syrian part of this system. The Saudi Arabian portion of the Harrat Ash Shamah volcanic field extends across a , roughly northwest–southeast-trending area on the northeastern flanks of the Wadi Sirhan and reaches its high point at Jabal al-Amud. It is in the Tabuk Province of northwest Saudi Arabia.U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989) pA152Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 560, Part 1 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989) and is one of a series of Quaternary volcanic fields paralleling the Red Sea coast.

History and economy The Harrat has traditionally been occupied by nomadic Bedouin of the Anizah confedaration. It It is primarily associated with the Ahl al-Jabal tribe, who graze sheep, goats, donkeys and camels there, but the Rwala, Zbaid, Ghayyath, Sardiyya and other tribes also use the area at times. Although the region as a whole is too dry for rainfed agriculture, seasonal wetlands such as the Qa' Shubayqa are used for growing cereals after they are flooded by winter rains. In the second half of the 20th century, many Bedouin settled in the village of Safawi, which grew up around a pumping station on the Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline (H5).

Archaeological sites Desert kites

Jordan Jawa, Jordan, Early Bronze Age proto-urban settlement Qasr al-Azraq and Qasr 'Ain es-Sil, ancient desert castles in the Azraq oasis Qasr Burqu', ancient "desert castle" Qasr Usaykhim, an ancient fort northeast of Azraq Shubayqa 1, Natufian hunter-gatherer site with the oldest bread-making find in the world

See also Syrian Desert Hauran, a historical region partially overlapping with the Harrat al-Sham List of volcanoes in Saudi Arabia Sarawat Mountains Midian Mountains

Notes

References

Further reading

Ilani, S., Harlavan, Y., Tarawneh, K., Rabba, I., Weinberger, R., Khalil, I., and Peltz, S. (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(2):171–174 Kempe, S. and Al-Malabeh, A. (2005), "Newly discovered lava tunnels of the Al-Shaam plateau basalts", Geophysical Research Abstracts 7, European Geosciences Union Salf, S.I. (1988), "Field and petrographic characteristics of Cenozoic basaltic rocks, Northwestern Saudi Arabia" Journal of African Earth Sciences, 7(5):805–809 Weinstein, Y., Navon, O., Altherr, R., and Stein, M., (2006) "The role of lithospheric mantle heterogeneity in the generation of Plio-Pleistocene alkali basalt suites from NW Harrat Ash Shaam (Israel)", Journal of Petrology 47(5):1017–1050 Al Kwatli, M.A., Gillot, P.Y., Zeyen, H., Hildenbrand, A., and 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.

External links

VolcanoWorld information and aerial photograph