The Harra es-Sawâd (or Shuqra) volcanic field in southern Yemen extends for nearly 100 km along the Gulf of Aden, east of the city of Shuqra (Shaqra). The field is oriented WSW-ENE and contains about a hundred cones that have sent lava flows across a 40 x 95 km area of faulted basement limestones. Most of the volcanic field is Holocene in age (Cox et al., 1977), and in many cases the flows and cones are essentially uneroded. The only recorded event was a major, but poorly documented, eruption in 1253 CE.