Waw An Namus
Friday, 29th July 2005 by Alex Turnbull
This is Waw an Namus, a 1200 metre extinct volcano in the Sahara desert, Libya. The volcano itself is surrounded by a huge area of deposited ash which stands out strikingly against the desert sands. Zoom in closer to see some spectacular colours.
You can really see which way the prevailing wind blows around here, huh?
A couple of hundred kilometres to the north you can see an absolutely vast basaltic lava flow field, known as Djebel Haroudj. If you take a broader look at the area, I think you can still make out the path the lava took from the volcano to it's final destination.
I couldn't find an entry for this in Wikipedia, but this page has some good stuff.
Thanks: Leonard Richardson, Mikhail, Adriaan Bos, Manny Mouse, Mike S, pfly and Lauri Kangas.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
Wowzo, good find
Thanks! I’ve been meaning to ask about this big black splodge in the Sahara for ages. I thought at first it could’ve been an oil well fire, but it’s far too big for that.
I’m amazed how visible the prevailing winds over North Africa are from the satellite imagery. Especially if you zoom out a bit, and go further East: View Placemark Can any meteorologist explain what we’re seeing here?
Wow An Namus… Kinder sounds like ‘Wow Enormous’