Satellite imagery of a volcanic desert reveals its greener past

Wide Field of View: The beige-colored Jabal Bayda volcano crater, seen in the top center of this image, is almost a mile wide. Photo by Science and Analysis Laboratory/NASA Johnson Space Center/Anne Phillips
The sands of Harrat Khaybar, in the Saudi Arabian desert, weren’t always so parched. Evidence on the ground, such as fossilized hippo teeth, has led geologists to conclude that this dessicated lava field was once a lush grassland. But the case is even clearer from space, as seen in this photograph, taken from the International Space Station in March.
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