Cinder cone morphometry in relation to gravity anomaly zones in the Harrat al Birk and Asir foreland, SW Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The Harrat al Birk (HAB) of the alkali basalts of the post-Miocene age erupted through a thick Precambrian crust along the Red Sea coast. The 200 cinder cones scatter within HAB and three distinct Bouguer anomaly zones are identified as the coastal gravity high (CGH), axial gravity low (AGL) and a gravity high further east Jabal As-Sawda gravity high (JSGH). Interpreted satellite imagery for 150 sizeable cinder cones in three gravity anomaly zones (134 (90%) in CGH, 10 (6%) in AGL and 6 (4%) in JSGH) are morphologically analysed. The juvenile cinder cones (age \({<}{1}\hbox {Ma}\)) are characterised by sub-vertical slope angles (\({<}{40}^{\circ }\)) with a variable average geomorphic slope, 27\(^{\circ }\)–40\(^{\circ }\) in JSGH, \(25^{\circ }\) in AGL and 2\(^{\circ }\)–15\(^{\circ }\) in CGH. The oldest cones of JSGH display a high \(H_{\mathrm{co}}/W_{\mathrm{co}}\) ratio with angular asymmetry at their base angles. The major feeder lineaments/faults are oriented NNW–SSE to NW–SE, and they supply volcanic material to cinder cones within a distance of 2 km. The results, when integrated with geological maps and gravity profiles, provide a probable root-plumbing system of the volcano edifice. HAB is the produce of the volcanic process from the source area in JSGH that hosts the major cinders, where the tertiary gabbroic dyke zone acts as a vertical magma sheet for the cinders.