Madinah, Saudi Arabia—surrounded by three massive volcanic fields and situated on the Arabian Shield

iss074e0002649 (Dec. 20, 2025) --- Madinah, Saudi Arabia—surrounded by three massive volcanic fields and situated on the Arabian Shield, a 540-million-year-old geological formation—is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above the Arabian Peninsula. Madinah is the Middle Eastern nation's second holiest city in Islam with a population of about 1.6 million.