First posted December 29, 2023 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025 Paleomagnetic rock samples were collected from 173 drill sites in the Quaternary alkali basaltic volcanic field of northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Laboratory measurements on these samples established that lava flows and vent complexes—identified and mapped from field characteristics, rock types, and compositions as products of single or temporally close eruptions—typically record single, or very similar, directions of remanent magnetization. Correlations defined through geologic mapping, spatial association, geochemistry, geochronology, and identical mean remanent directions indicate at least 16 brief episodes of temporally clustered eruptions. These episodes had durations of a few centuries or less. Anomalous remanent magnetic directions were found for at least 13 mapped lavas of northern Harrat Rahat, which demonstrate that they were acquired during brief geomagnetic cryptochrons during the Brunhes Normal Polarity Chron. These uncharacteristic directions enhance the opportunity to identify common eruptive episodes, and to better understand and evaluate assessments of eruption ages based on 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Combining paleomagnetic and regional archaeomagnetic results for the youngest eruptions allows us to evaluate their historical age assignments and, in one case, refute a previously assigned provisional age.

First posted December 29, 2023 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025 Quaternary volcanic rocks of northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are chiefly alkali basalts with subordinate transitional basalts, hawaiites, mugearites, benmoreites, and trachytes. Geochemical and isotopic results indicate that crystallization-differentiation, mixing, and cumulate reassimilation within the magmatic system produced most of its compositional diversity, with only minor involvement of Neoproterozoic crust. With increasing evolution, crystal assemblages that separated from and drove basalt-to-hawaiite differentiation passed from (1) dunitic or troctolitic to (2) olivine gabbroic to (3) titanomagnetite-bearing olivine gabbroic, with typical hawaiites representing about 20 weight percent residual liquids from an estimated primary alkali basaltic parent. Crystallization-differentiation simulations for midcrustal pressures yield the closest compositional match to the basalt-hawaiite suite, and stagnation in the midcrustal area (near 20 kilometers [km] depth) may result from density trapping beneath the lower density upper continental crust. Least differentiated alkali basalts have fractionation-adjusted major-oxide compositions that are consistent with separation from the deeper parts (60–70 km) of the spinel-lherzolite stability field at pressures that are close to the local lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (60–80 km). Mantle potential temperature estimates are strongly sensitive to modeling approach, but potential temperatures (1,345–1,390 degrees Celsius [°C]) are not discernably greater than for midocean ridge basalts (MORB; 1,350–1,410 °C) if adherence to spinel-lherzolite melting relations is required. Inversion of the trace-element concentrations of the lesser fractionated basalts indicates a depleted mantle source, similar to MORB-source estimates, but one that is enriched in Sr and includes a greater relative proportion of melting in the garnet-peridotite stability field. These geochemical and thermal relations, as well as radiogenic isotopes, point to a dominantly depleted mantle asthenospheric source for Harrat Rahat basalts, admixed with subordinate materials either from the Afar mantle plume or an enriched MORB component in the ambient asthenosphere. The lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is shallower beneath the belt of major volcanic fields on the Arabia Plate, and restoration of rifting across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden places the south end of this belt adjacent to the northern part of the Afar region, suggesting a once-continuous structure, possibly an arch, a weakness, or a discontinuity along the base of the lithosphere. Magma generation can be ascribed to focused upwelling and decompression melting, perhaps driven by a magmatic-feedback mechanism whereby basaltic intrusions into the deep lithosphere solidify as eclogites, causing lithospheric foundering and further asthenospheric upwelling and decompression melting in a restricted region.

First posted December 29, 2023 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025Contact Pubs Warehouse The northernmost part of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field contains early Pleistocene to Holocene mafic eruptive products within the vicinity of the city of Al Madīnah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A detailed geologic investigation into the eruptive history of a 570 square kilometer (km2) area covering Al Madīnah and the surrounding area has yielded 33 mapped Quaternary volcanic units consisting of lava flows, scoria cones, and shield volcanoes. These eruptive products consist of continental, intraplate alkalic and minor transitional basalts, hawaiites, and a single mugearite that were emplaced from at least 1,014±14 thousand years ago (ka) to a single Holocene eruption in 1256 C.E. Lava flows are generally 10 to 15 kilometers (km) long (but can reach 23 km long), 1 to 3 km wide, and at least 10 meters thick. Most of the mapped units erupted episodically between 400 and 340 ka and 180 and 100 ka. Despite small individual volumes (less than 1 cubic kilometers dense rock equivalent), each unit represents eruption of a distinct magma batch that was strongly influenced by clinopyroxene, olivine, and plagioclase fractionation. Some of these units are interpreted to have undergone magma mixing pre- and (or) syneruptively. Integrating eruption ages, geochemistry, and paleomagnetic data yields evidence that some eruptions were temporally and (or) spatially clustered. Aligned scoria cones and elongate vent edifices were constructed atop fissure vent systems that reflect the local stress field, which controls dike ascent through the middle and upper crust.

First posted December 29, 2023 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025Contact Pubs Warehouse A fundamental goal of igneous petrology is to quantify the durations required to produce evolved magmas following influx of basalt into the crust. However, in many cases, complex field relations and (or) the presence of a long-lived magmatic system make it difficult to assess how basaltic inputs relate to more evolved magmas, therefore precluding calculation of meaningful timescales. Here we present field relations, geochemistry, 40Ar/39Ar ages, and 36Cl surface-exposure ages for volcanic rocks from the Matan volcanic center, located in the northern part of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These data document a systematic and repeated temporal progression from alkali basalt to trachyte for the youngest eruptive products. From ~155–17 thousand years ago, the following eruptive sequence occurred four times: (1) alkali basalt, (2) hawaiite, mugearite, or benmoreite, and (3) trachyte. We interpret each eruptive sequence to result from injection of basalt into the crust, and its subsequent differentiation and eruption of progressively evolved magmas. We use the interval time between successive eruptions within a given sequence to calculate the timespans required to produce trachyte from alkali basalt. Differentiation from alkali basalt to intermediate compositions (hawaiite, mugearite, and benmoreite) took ≤3 thousand years (k.y.) on average. Differentiation from intermediate compositions to trachyte took a maximum of 6.7±3.6 to 22.9±1.7 k.y. Thus, the total duration of differentiation was ~10–25 k.y. Timescales presented here are independent of the processes evoked to drive differentiation because they are based solely on the ages and compositions of eruptive products from a system characterized by a simple, repeated differentiation sequence.

First posted December 29, 2023 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025 Harrat Rahat is an alkali basalt, continental, intraplate volcanic field located within the central-western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The northern quarter of Harrat Rahat contains evolved volcanic products that achieve trachyte compositions (>60 weight percent SiO2). Within the Al Efairia volcanic center, pyroclastic-flow and -surge deposits that reflect explosive trachyte volcanism (and minor exposed lava domes that reflect effusive trachyte eruptions) sit at the surface as the youngest expression of volcanic activity within this part of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field. Five trachyte deposits emplaced explosively have been identified within the Al Efairia volcanic center based on geologic mapping, petrography, geochemistry, and paleomagnetism. These units are the trachytes of Um Rgaibah, Gura 5, Gura 4, Al Efairia, and Al Qayf, in descending stratigraphic order. Here, we present 14 40Ar/39Ar analyses from four of these units, which yield eruption ages of 4.2±5.2 thousand years (ka) for the trachyte of Um Rgaibah, 79.7±1.6 ka for the trachyte of Gura 5, 84.3±1.6 ka for the trachyte of Gura 4, and 88.0±1.8 ka for the trachyte of Al Efairia. The eruption age of the trachyte of Al Qayf has been constrained to between 410.3±3.4 and 418.8±1.9 ka using paleomagnetic correlations and 40Ar/39Ar ages from overlying and underlying intermediate composition lava flows. Most of these trachytes have distinct geochemical compositions, petrographic characteristics, and directions of remanent magnetization. The exceptions are for the trachytes of Gura 4 and Gura 5, which overlap in their geochemical, petrographic, paleomagnetic, and geochronologic affinities. Based on these similarities, we interpret the trachytes of Gura 4 and Gura 5 to have erupted during a closely spaced (a few decades) time interval from the same magma batch but from craters that are >2 kilometers (km) apart. The eruption of the trachyte of Al Efairia at 88.0±1.8 ka is the result of a different magma batch that erupted a few thousand years prior to the trachytes of Gura 4 and Gura 5. The Al Efairia volcanic center is remarkably different from the Matan volcanic center located ~10 km to the north, which has also erupted young (<150 ka) trachytes. The Matan volcanic center has been shown to produce trachyte compositions only after eruption of basalt followed by intermediate lava flows, whereas only trachyte compositions have erupted within the Al Efairia volcanic center over this same time interval.

First posted January 2, 2020 For additional information, contact: Volcano Science Center - Menlo ParkU.S. Geological Survey345 Middlefield Road, MS 910Menlo Park, CA 94025 Harrat Rahat, in the west-central part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the largest of 15 Cenozoic harrats (Arabic for "volcanic field") distributed on the Arabian plate. It extends more than 300 km north-south and 50 to 75 km east-west, and it covers an area of approximately 20,000 km2, has a volume of approximately 2,000 km3, and encompasses more than 900 observable vents. Volcanism commenced around 10 Ma and has continued into historic time, the most recent eruption occurring in 1256 C.E. Volcanic products are dominated by alkali basalt and hawaiite lava flows, with subordinate mugearite lava flows, as well as benmoreite and trachyte lava flows, domes, and pyroclastic flows.This geologic map distinguishes 239 eruptive units that cover an area of 3,340 km2 in northern Harrat Rahat and the adjacent city of Al-Madinah. Results are presented as a geologic map of the study area at 1:75,000 scale and of smaller regions of particular interest at 1:25,000 scale, along with interpretive text.Most units are basaltic lava flows that erupted from the broadly north-northwest-trending main vent axis that constructed the topographic crest of the volcanic field. This 300- to 400-m-high vent axis, which has a width of 6 to 10 km, lies in the eastern one-third of northern Harrat Rahat. Basalt and hawaiite lava flows can extend as far as 27 km from their vents, but most are 10 to 15 km long. Evolved products such as mugearites, benmoreites, and trachytes are less extensive; the trachytic pyroclastic flows extend as far as 9 km from their source vents, although most only reach 4 to 6 km. Vents of the evolved products are restricted to the main vent axis or its flanks.No volcanic rocks older than 1.2 Ma are exposed in the map area, and about 90 percent of the exposed volcanic rocks erupted during the past 570 thousand years. As depicted on the geologic maps, eruption ages and field relations define 12 eruptive stages for northern Harrat Rahat for the past 1.2 million years. Other important geochronological findings include (1) several late Pleistocene lava flows near Al-Madinah, which previously were interpreted as Holocene from archeological evidence; (2) the eruption age of a cluster of cinder cones and small lava flows in the western outskirts of Al-Madinah (previously ascribed to an eruption in 641 C.E.) is actually 13.3±1.9 ka, close to the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary; and (3) only two Holocene eruptions have been identified in the map area, those of the historically described basalt of Al Labah in 1256 C.E. and the dome and pyroclastic flows of the trachyte of Um Rgaibah at 4.2±5.2 ka.

A fundamental goal of igneous petrology is to quantify the duration of time required to produce evolved magmas following influx of basalt into the crust. However, in many cases, complex field relations and/or the presence of a long-lived magmatic system make it difficult to assess how basaltic inputs relate to more evolved magmas, therefore, precluding calculation of meaningful timescales. Here, we present field relations, geochemistry, 40Ar/39Ar ages, and 36Cl ages for volcanic rocks from the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, Saudi Arabia. These data document a systematic and repeated temporal progression from alkali basalt to trachyte for the youngest eruptives. From ~ 150 to ~ 17 ka the following eruptive sequence occurred four times: (1) alkali basalt, (2) hawaiite, mugearite, or benmoreite, and (3) trachyte. We interpret each eruptive sequence to result from injection of basalt into the crust, and its subsequent differentiation and eruption of progressively evolved magmas. We use the interval time between successive eruptions within a given sequence to calculate the duration of time required to produce trachyte from alkali basalt. Differentiation from alkali basalt to intermediate compositions (hawaiite, mugearite, benmoreite) took ≤ 2 kyr on average. Differentiation from intermediate compositions to trachyte took a maximum of 6.6 ± 3.5 to 22.5 ± 1.6 kyr. Thus, the total duration of differentiation was ~ 9 to ~ 25 kyr. Timescales presented here are insensitive to processes evoked to drive differentiation because they are based solely on the ages and compositions of eruptive products from a system characterized by a simple, repeated differentiation sequence.

We present a detailed geologic investigation of Pleistocene to Holocene mafic volcanism within the northernmost part of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, proximal to the city of Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Our study area covers similar to 570 km(2), and encompasses lava flows, scoria cones, and shield volcanoes of 32 mapped eruptive units consisting of continental, intraplate alkalic and tholeiitic basalts, hawaiites, and a mugearite that erupted from at least 1014 +/- 14 ka to a single Holocene event at 1256 A.D. Typical lava flows are roughly 10-15 km long, although they reach nearly 23 km, 1-3 km wide, and similar to 10 m thick. The majority of eruptives in our study area erupted ca. 400-340 ka and ca. 180-100 ka. Despite small individual volumes (<1 km(3) dense rock equivalent), each unit resulted from eruption of a distinct magma batch that was influenced by clinopyroxene, olivine, and plagioclase fractionation. Some of these units are interpreted to have undergone magma mixing prior to eruption. Combining our age determinations, geochemistry, and paleomagnetic data sets indicates that several eruptions were temporally and/or spatially clustered. Aligned scoria cones and elongate vent edifices were constructed atop fissure vent systems that reflect the stress field controlling dike ascent through the middle to upper crust.

High-resolution tomographic images of the crust and upper mantle beneath Harrat Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia, are obtained by inverting high-quality arrival-time data of local earthquakes and teleseismic events recorded by newly installed borehole seismic stations to investigate the AD 1256 volcanic eruption and the 1999 seismic swarm in the study region. Our tomographic images show the existence of strong heterogeneities marked with low-velocity zones extending beneath the AD 1256 volcanic center and the 1999 seismic swarm area. The low-velocity zone coinciding with the hypocenters of the 1999 seismic swarm suggests the presence of a shallow magma reservoir that is apparently originated from a deeper source (60-100 km depths) and is possibly connected with another reservoir located further north underneath the NNW-aligned scoria cones of the AD 1256 eruption. We suggest that the 1999 seismic swarm may represent an aborted volcanic eruption and that the magmatism along the western margin of Arabia is largely attributed to the uplifting and thinning of its lithosphere by the Red Sea rifting. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.