Crustal model for the Red Sea

Abstract:

The Red Sea is a juvenile ocean that is located between Northern Africa and Arabia. The transition from continental rifting to oceanic seafloor spreading is currently occurring in the Red Sea, and thus it offers a unique opportunity to study the final stages of continental rifting, transition to seafloor spreading and the initiation processes of oceanic crust formation.

During the 60’s up to the 80’s large amount of geophysical data was collected in specific areas within the Red Sea, in more than 30 surveys. During the last 30 years only little amounts of new geophysical data was collected there.

In this study we re-process the former magnetic and gravity data sets, and by compiling it with further modern satellite data we produce a detailed geophysical map of magnetic and gravity fields for the Red Sea and its vicinity. The newly compiled maps together with seismic, structural and petrological constrains is use to build a detailed and high resolution 3D crustal model for the entire Red Sea. The model links up to existing lithospheric scale models of Northern Africa and Arabian Peninsula.

By this, we address number of key questions regarding the rifting, sea floor spreading and transition processes in the Red Sea.