عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Saudi Arabia's Waba Crater Recognized Among World's Top 100 Geological Landmarks

The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) announced the selection and nomination of the Waba Crater as one of the top 100 geological heritage sites in the world for 2024. (SPA)
The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) announced the selection and nomination of the Waba Crater as one of the top 100 geological heritage sites in the world for 2024. (SPA)
TT
TT

Saudi Arabia's Waba Crater Recognized Among World's Top 100 Geological Landmarks

The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) announced the selection and nomination of the Waba Crater as one of the top 100 geological heritage sites in the world for 2024. (SPA)
The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) announced the selection and nomination of the Waba Crater as one of the top 100 geological heritage sites in the world for 2024. (SPA)

The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) announced on Wednesday the selection and nomination of the Waba Crater as one of the top 100 geological heritage sites in the world for 2024.

This distinction was bestowed by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Also known as the Tamiya Quarry, or scientifically as the Al-Mar Volcano, the crater is located in Hurrat Khishb, about 270 km northeast of Jeddah,

SGS official spokesperson Tariq Abaalkhail said the selection came after an evaluation by a committee of 89 global experts, where the crater was chosen from among 174 nominated sites submitted by 64 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, China, Iceland, Egypt, and Finland, among others.

The Waba Crater is considered one of the largest and most magnificent volcanic craters in the world and one of the largest dry Al-Mar volcanoes globally, Abaalkhail added.

It is part of a monogenetic volcanic field that includes 175 small volcanoes, with ages ranging from 2 million to a few hundred thousand years, covering an area of approximately 6,000 square kilometers.

The crater itself was formed about 1.1 million years ago, with a depth of around 250 meters and a diameter of 2.3 kilometers, which is about three times the average diameter of other volcanoes, he explained. It also contains a saline basin or shallow lake formed due to the accumulation of rainwater.

The Waba Crater, along with the other selected geological sites worldwide, is an inspiring destination that contributes to the promotion of geological tourism and the development of geological sciences, providing unique opportunities to disseminate knowledge in the field of earth sciences, he remarked.

 

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

119-year-old Brazilian Woman Stakes Claim as World's Oldest Person

Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
TT
TT

119-year-old Brazilian Woman Stakes Claim as World's Oldest Person

Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Two months away from what she says is her 120th birthday, Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, a great-grandmother from the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is rushing to be recognized as the world’s oldest living person by the Guinness World Records.

The institution currently features another Brazilian, Inah Canabarro Lucas, a nun from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul as the oldest living person at 116 years, but Deolira’s family and doctors are confident that she will soon take the religious woman’s title.

“She is still not in the book, but she is the oldest in the world according to the documents we have on her, as I recently discovered,” said Deolira’s granddaughter Doroteia Ferreira da Silva, who is half her age, Reuters reported.

The documents show that Pedro da Silva was born on March 10th 1905 in the rural area of Porciuncula, a small town in the state of Rio. She now lives in a colorfully painted house in Itaperuna, where her two granddaughters Doroteia, 60, and Leida Ferreira da Silva, 64, take care of her.

The grandmother is also supervised by doctors and researchers who are interested in how she outlived the average life expectancy in Brazil, which currently sits at 76.4 years, by more than four decades.

“Mrs. Deolira, in 2025, will be 120 years old. She is in a good general state of health for her condition, she is not taking any medication,” said geriatric doctor Juair de Abreu Pereira, who checks up on Pedro da Silva frequently and is assisting her family in the process with Guinness World Records.

In a statement, Guinness said it couldn't confirm receiving Pedro da Silva's application, because it receives many from people around the world who claim to be the oldest living person.

Major floods in the region almost twenty years ago destroyed most of Deolira’s original documents, her doctor said. That may pose a challenge for the official recognition of her age.

Even if her age is not precise, Pedro da Silva is certainly older than 100 years, according to Mateus Vidigal, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo who has studied her case as part of a project to understand the super elderly population of Brazil.

“Mrs. Deolira has not been excluded from the study, but there is this fragility which is the lack of documentation that is approved by those organizations,” Vidigal said, referring to vetting institutions such as the Guinness World Records.

Pedro Silva’s healthy diet and sleeping habits are key to her longevity, according to Dr. Pereira. To this day, she has a good interaction with her family and likes eating bananas.

“I wish I could get to her age and be like that,” Ferreira da Silva, her granddaughter, said. “While we have high blood pressure and diabetes, she does not have any of that.”