Harrat Lunayyir
Harrat Lunayyir
A volcanic field in Tabuk Province that gained global attention in 2009 when an exceptional earthquake swarm of more than thirty thousand events, the largest measuring 5.7 magnitude, prompted the evacuation of al-Ays and produced a ten-kilometer surface crack from dyke intrusion.
Plan your visit
Practical information verified separately from the historical record.
Before you go: Check with the operator or a local guide before departure; field access details have not yet been verified.
Why visit?
Learn from the most closely studied recent volcanic unrest in Arabia, where InSAR satellite data revealed magma movement beneath the crust.
Between April and July 2009 Harrat Lunayyir in the northwest of Saudi Arabia experienced one of the most intense earthquake swarms in the modern history of the peninsula. More than thirty thousand tremors were recorded, the strongest reaching 5.7 on the Richter scale on 19 May 2009. The hypocenters clustered in the upper five to ten kilometers of the crust.
Researchers analyzing InSAR remote-sensing data concluded that a vertical dyke about ten kilometers long intruded beneath the surface, producing a visible surface fracture and raising concern about possible volcanic eruption. The Saudi government evacuated more than thirty thousand residents from al-Ays city and surrounding areas as a precaution.
Although no eruption followed, the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir event supplied scientists with exceptional data on magma dynamics in an arid continental setting and remains the benchmark for volcanic monitoring and civil response in the kingdom.