The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden basins

We here summarize the evolution of the greater Red Sea-Gulf of Aden rift system, which includes the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden marine basins and their continental margins, and the Afar region. Plume related basaltic trap volcanism began in Ethiopia, NE Sudan (Derudeb), and SW Yemen at similar to 31 Ma, followed by rhyolitic volcanism at similar to 30 Ma. Volcanism thereafter spread northward to Harrats Sirat, Hadan, Ishara-Khirsat, and Ar Rahat in western Saudi Arabia. This early magmatism occurred without significant extension, and continued to similar to 25 Ma. Much of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region was at or near sea level at this time. Starting between similar to 29.9 and 28.7 Ma, marine syn-tectonic sediments were deposited on continental crust in the central Gulf of Aden. At the same time the Horn of Africa became emergent. By similar to 27.5-23.8 Ma a small rift basin was forming in the Eritrean Red Sea. At approximately the same time (similar to 25 Ma), extension and rifting commenced within Afar itself. At similar to 24 Ma, a new phase of volcanism, principally basaltic dikes but also layered gabbro and granophyre bodies, appeared nearly synchronously throughout the entire Red Sea, from Afar and Yemen to northern Egypt. This second phase of magmatism was accompanied in the Red Sea by strong rift-normal extension and deposition of syn-tectonic sediments, mostly of marine and marginal marine affinity. Sedimentary facies were laterally heterogeneous, being comprised of inter-fingering siliciclastics, evaporite, and carbonate. Throughout the Red Sea, the principal phase of rift shoulder uplift and rapid syn-rift subsidence followed shortly thereafter at similar to 20 Ma. Water depths increased dramatically and sedimentation changed to predominantly Globigerina-rich mart and deepwater limestone. Within a few million years of its initiation in the mid-Oligocene the Gulf of Aden continental rift linked the Owen fracture zone (oceanic crust) with the Afar plume. The principal driving force for extension was slab-pull beneath the Urumieh-Doktar arc on the north side of the narrowing Neotethys. Drag of Arabia by the northward-moving Indian plate across the partially locked northern Owen fracture zone and the position of the Carlsberg oceanic ridge probably also influenced the geometry of the Aden rift. The trigger for the onset of rifting, though, was the impingement of the Afar plume at similar to 31 Ma. The Red Sea propagated away from the plume head, perpendicular to the extensional stresses then operating in Arabia, and arrived at the bend in the African-Levant margin, which itself may have been a stress concentration ripe for rifting. The local geometry of the early Red Sea rift was strongly influenced by pre-existing basement structures, and as a consequence followed a complex path from Afar to Suez. Each segment of the rift was initially an asymmetric half graben, with well-defined accommodation zones between sub-basins. In the Gulf of Aden, the positions of accommodation zones were strongly influenced by older Mesozoic rift basins. Early rift structures can be restored to their original contiguous geometries along both the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden conjugate margins. In both basins, present-day shorelines restore to a separation of 40-60 km along most of their lengths. The initial rift basins were 60-80 km in width. Oceanic spreading initiated on the Sheba Ridge east of the Alula-Fartaq fracture zone at similar to 19-18 Ma. After stalling at this fracture zone, the ridge probably propagated west into the central Gulf of Aden by similar to 16 Ma. This matches the observed termination of syn-tectonic deposition along the onshore Aden margins at approximately the same time. At similar to 14 Ma, a transform boundary cut through Sinai and the Levant continental margin, linking the northern Red Sea with the Bitlis-Zagros convergence zone. This corresponded with collision of Arabia and Eurasia, which resulted in a new plate geometry with different boundary forces. Red Sea extension changed from rift normal (N60 degrees E) to highly oblique and parallel to the Aqaba-Levant transform (N15 degrees E). North of Suez in Egypt the rift system became emergent, perhaps due to minor compression of the Sinai sub-plate, and the marine connection to the Mediterranean Sea became restricted but not terminated. Red Sea sedimentation changed from predominantly open marine to evaporitic, although deep water persisted in many regions. A third phase of magmatism commenced, locally in Ethiopia but predominantly in western Saudi Arabia and extending north to Harrat Ash Shama and Jebel Drusc in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. At similar to 10 Ma, the Sheba Ridge rapidly propagated west over 400 kin from the central Gulf of Aden to the Shukra al Sheik discontinuity. Oceanic spreading followed in the south-central Red Sea at similar to 5 Ma. This corresponded in time to an important unconformity throughout the Red Sea basin and along the margins of the Gulf of Aden, coeval with the Messinian unconformity of the Mediterranean basin. A major phase of pull-apart basin development also occurred along the Aqaba-Levant transform. In the early Pliocene the influx of marine waters through Bab al Mandeb increased and Red Sea sedimentation thereafter returned to predominantly open marine conditions. By similar to 3-2 Ma, oceanic spreading moved west of the Shukra al Sheik discontinuity, and the entire Gulf of Aden was an oceanic rift. During the last similar to 1 My, the southern Red Sea plate boundary linked to the Aden spreading center through the Gulf of Zula, Danakil Depression, and Gulf of Tadjoura. Presently, the Red Sea spreading center appears to be propagating toward the northern Red Sea to link with the Aqaba-Levant transform. Alkali basaltic volcanism continues within the Younger Harrats of western Saudi Arabia and Yemen and offshore southern Red Sea islands. Most of the Arabian plate is now experiencing N-S upper crustal compression, whereas the maximum horizontal stress is oriented E-W in NE Africa. Arabia and Africa, now on separate plates, are therefore completely decoupled in terms of regional, far-field stresses. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.