i'm not like you

← explore · constellation

Tibesti Mountains

21°N, 17°E — Central Sahara, northern Chad — shield-volcano range with hot springs

What's documented

The Tibesti Mountains are a range of shield volcanoes in the central Sahara, in northern Chad. The highest peak, Emi Koussi, rises to 3,415 meters and is the highest point in the Sahara. The range contains active hot springs (with water temperatures around 37°C), lava fields, and extensive rock art predating the Toubou people who currently inhabit the region. The Tibesti rock-art record spans roughly 10,000 years; iconographies shift over time in ways the academic Saharan-prehistory literature continues to debate.

Public-record imagery

ISS view of the Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara.
ISS view of the Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara.Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · NASA Johnson Space Center / Kimiya Yui · Take
Emi Koussi — the highest peak in the Sahara, a Pleistocene shield volcano.
Emi Koussi — the highest peak in the Sahara, a Pleistocene shield volcano.Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · NASA · 2001
SPOT satellite imagery of the central Tibesti range.
SPOT satellite imagery of the central Tibesti range.Wikipedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cnes - Spot Image · 2006
ASTER satellite image of the Tibesti Range — the calderas of Emi Koussi and Tarso Toussidé are visible as dark concentric rings. The hot-spring fumaroles in the central range mark active geothermal venting; thermal anomalies are detectable from orbit.
ASTER satellite image of the Tibesti Range — the calderas of Emi Koussi and Tarso Toussidé are visible as dark concentric rings. The hot-spring fumaroles in the central range mark active geothermal venting; thermal anomalies are detectable from orbit.Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team · Take