The alkaline Meidob volcanic field is a volcanic field

Volcanic field

A volcanic field is an area of the Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. They usually contain 10 to 100 volcanoes, such as cinder cones and are usually in clusters. Lava flows may also occur...

 at the northeast end of the Darfur volcanic province in western Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, adjacent to the Kutum volcanic field

Tagabo Hills

The Tagabo Hills is a volcanic field in the region of Darfur in Sudan. It lies north of the Marrah Mountains and southwest of the larger Meidob Volcanic Field. The Tagabo Hills are also known as the Kutum Volcanic Field, after the town of Kutum, or the Berti Hills after the Berti people...

. It covers an area of 5000 km² with nearly 700 late Cenozoic vents. The volcanic field was constructed over an uplifted Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...

 igneous and metamorphic basement

Basement Rock

Basement or Basement Rock music was a sub-genre coined in 2006 in an article by music magazine TGR. This was first in relation to the existence of underground record label Criminal Records but more for the independent bands they represent. The roots of the sub-genre are noted to be as far back as...

 and is elongated in an east-west direction. Basaltic scoria cones

Scoria

Scoria is a volcanic rock containing many holes or vesicles. It is most generally dark in color , and basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is relatively low in mass as a result of its numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but in contrast to pumice, all scoria has a specific gravity...

 and associated lava flows dominate, but trachytic

Trachyte

Trachyte is an igneous volcanic rock with an aphanitic to porphyritic texture. The mineral assemblage consists of essential alkali feldspar; relatively minor plagioclase and quartz or a feldspathoid such as nepheline may also be present....

-phonolitic lava domes, tuff rings, and maar

Maar

A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption, an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magma. A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake. The name comes from the local Moselle...

s are among the youngest volcanic products. The lava from the scoria cones produced a broad lava plateau. The central part of the field consists of younger phonolitic lava flows, trachytic pumice-fall deposits, ignimbrite

Ignimbrite

An ignimbrite is the deposit of a pyroclastic density current, or pyroclastic flow, a hot suspension of particles and gases that flows rapidly from a volcano, driven by a greater density than the surrounding atmosphere....

s, and maars. The youngest dated eruptions about 5000 years ago produced a tuff ring and a lava flow.

Further reading

• Franz et al. (1997). The alkaline Meidob volcanic field (Late Cenozoic, northwest Sudan). Journal of African Earth Sciences. 25:2 263-291.