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Tahalra Volcanic Field

Volcanic field · Algeria · 1467m

The dark-green and bluish-gray areas extending across this NASA Landsat false-color image depict the elongated, E-W-trending Tahalra volcanic field, which covers an area of about 1,800 km2 in the Hoggar Province of southern Algeria. About 100 small basaltic cones formed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the most recent activity during the late-Pleistocene and Holocene, produced about 20 maars and cones along the northern margin of the volcanic field.
The dark-green and bluish-gray areas extending across this NASA Landsat false-color image depict the elongated, E-W-trending Tahalra volcanic field, which covers an area of about 1,800 km2 in the Hoggar Province of southern Algeria. About 100 small basaltic cones formed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the most recent activity during the late-Pleistocene and Holocene, produced about 20 maars and cones along the northern margin of the volcanic field. · Photo: NASA Landsat 7 image (worldwind.arc.nasa.gov) · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Volcanic field
Country
Algeria
Region
Northern Africa Volcanic Regions / West Central Sahara Volcanic Province
Elevation
1467m
Coordinates
22.670, 5.000
Last eruption
Unknown
Tectonic setting
Intraplate / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Geological summary

The large E-W elongated Tahalra volcanic field covers an area of about 1,800 km2 in the Hoggar Province of southern Algeria. It lies WSW of the town of Tamanrasset and was active from the Miocene to the Holocene, producing alkaline Strombolian cones and lava flows. The field was constructed over Precambrian metamorphic and plutonic rocks of the Tuareg shield. A dozen trachytic-to-rhyolitic lava domes and spines formed during the Pliocene, and Pliocene-to Pleistocene activity formed about 100 small basaltic (mostly basanitic) cones. The most recent activity, during the Pleistocene and Holocene, produced about 20 maars and cones along the northern margin.

Eruption history

Detailed timeline

No eruption records available.

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.