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Cenozoic Distributed Volcanism of the Arabia Plate—A Review

Professional Paper 1890-J
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1890J

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Abstract

Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Arabia Plate cover about 140,000 square kilometers across a distance of about 3,000 kilometers from southern Yemen to southeastern Turkey. The majority of volcanic products are alkali basalts that erupted in restricted areas, commonly over periods of a million or more years, building mafic lava fields, each known in Arabic as a “harrat.” Harrat volcanism commenced following the Oligocene flood-lava effusions that blanketed the (now) Ethiopian highlands, southern Sudan, and western Yemen, and overlapped the latest Oligocene to early Miocene initial riftings of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, but the majority of harrat volcanism has been since approximately 13–10 million years ago. Persistent harrat magmatism in restricted locations led to the development of intermediate and evolved magmas (hawaiites, mugearites, benmoreites, trachytes, comendites, and phonolites) mainly through intracrustal crystallization-differentiation. Most of these intermediate and evolved magmas erupt at sites of the greatest aggregate volcanic relief, reflecting sites of the greatest overall magmatic fluxes. Production of fractionated magmas at these sites negates “monogenetic” as an appropriate descriptor of harrat volcanism. This chapter summarizes the geologic, eruptive, and tectonic history and aspects of the petrogenesis of the Cenozoic Arabian alkalic province. Particular emphasis is placed on results of a joint study of Ḩarrat Rahat adjacent to the city of Al Madīnah al Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, published as U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1862 and Saudi Geological Survey Special Report SGS–SP–2021–1. A goal of this chapter is to provide an introduction to those unfamiliar with this vast, enigmatic, and fascinating region of distributed continental volcanism.

Suggested Citation

Sisson, T.W., and Calvert, A.T., 2026, Cenozoic distributed volcanism of the Arabia Plate—A review, chap. J of Poland, M.P., Ort, M.H., Stovall, W.K., Vaughan, R.G., Connor, C.B., and Rumpf, M.E., eds., Distributed volcanism—Characteristics, processes, and hazards: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1890, 28 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1890J.

ISSN: 2330-7102 (online)

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Tectono-Magmatic Setting and History
  • Magmatic Origins—Mantle Sources and Melting Processes
  • Magmatic Origins—Crustal Differentiation
  • Geophysical Imaging and a Tectono- Magmatic Synthesis
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Cenozoic distributed volcanism of the Arabia Plate—A review
Series title Professional Paper
Series number 1890
Chapter J
DOI 10.3133/pp1890J
Publication Date April 15, 2026
Year Published 2026
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Volcano Science Center
Description Report: v, 28 p.
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional publication details