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Scientific understanding of the mechanics of continental breakup in the absence of voluminous magmatism has dramatically evolved over the past decades. Numerical and conceptual rift models have elucidated the temporal and spatial evolution of crustal structures and the processes operating during the onset and evolution of lithospheric extension. Critical questions remain, however, regarding the strain and thermal evolution of the lower crust during progressive rifting, particularly during hyperextension and the transition to oceanic spreading. The Gulf of Suez and Red Sea – one of the conceptually most influential continental rifts – define a Miocene rift system that preserves segments of the proximal and distal hyperextended rift margin and presents unique opportunities to study the extensional thermal history without the influence of subsequent orogenic overprinting. This study presents new basement U-Pb and (U-Th)/He data from both the proximal Egyptian margin and the distal hyperextended margin, exposed on Zabargad Island, to reconstruct the thermal evolution during progressive continental rifting. Apatite (U-Th)/He data from transects across the length of the Egyptian margin record fault-controlled rift initiation, erosional retreat of the escarpment, and necking in the proximal margin at 23-19 Ma. Integrated structural and low-temperature thermochronometric data suggest that the Northern Red Sea is a late-stage continental rift currently experiencing hyperextension caused by a kinematic shift to oblique rifting at 14 Ma. The data also suggest that the multi-phase structural evolution of the Northern Red Sea is variably influenced by inherited basement structures, with structural inheritance being more determinative in the stretching and exhumation phases, while deformation in the thinning phase cuts across older structures uniformly along strike. In the distal domain, zircon U-Pb data from Zabargad — an exhumed portion of the highly-attenuated distal margin — record coeval Miocene hyperextension at ~23-19 Ma. In contrast, rutile and apatite U-Pb data from Zabargad document a significant tectono-thermal event during the Late Miocene (~7 Ma). Integrating apatite U-Pb and trace and rare earth element (TREE) analysis with prior geochemical studies suggest that this high-temperature metamorphic event was accompanied by hydrothermal alteration in the basement. Zircon (U-Th)/He likely record cooling after the high-temperature hydrothermal pulse as the Zabargad block continues to exhume during the Pliocene. This is the first documentation of reheating of a distal continental margin incipient oceanization. These data provide critical new insights into the thermal evolution of the crust and role of reheating during the transition from initial rifting, to hyperextension, and ultimately to seafloor spreading
Rifting and Sediments in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf Regions is a unique text that covers a wide range of topics related to the tectonics and geology of the Red Sea and Arabian (Persian) Gulf region. This book is a collection of invited and peer-reviewed chapters contributed by active researchers around the world. The topics covered in this book include tectonics, magmatism, and lithology, particularly in the Red Sea area. The book also delves into the sediments and evaporites of the Red Sea and Gulf. As the area around the Arabian Peninsula is prone to earthquakes, the seismic hazard estimated in the Red Sea region is also covered by several chapters. Each chapter presents new data and offers extensive lists of references for the reader to explore further. With the ongoing debates regarding the structure of the Red Sea, this book serves as an excellent resource for researchers and any individuals interested in the geology of these two unique seas.
Translation of the Russian edition of 1988 on peculiarities of the Arabian-Nubian Shield in the Precambrian, prerift magmatism in the Red Sea Rift zone, evolution of the crust in rift forming zones.
The Red Sea is an important geologic phenomenon because it affords researchers the unique opportunity to witness an ocean in the process of being born. The continental crust has broken along a complex jumble of faults and is slowly spreading apart and, with further rifting, this infant ocean will evolve into a younger version of the Atlantic. The author of this work has studied extensively the patterns produced by processes taking place in the Red Sea basin and on the adjacent continental masses, patterns that can be used to interpret older, larger, and more complex geologic features. His book describes the tectonics, structure, volcanic history, geomorphology, and economic aspects (potential for petroleum and heavy metals) of the area. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of geology, paleontology, and oceanography.
This richly illustrated book offers a concise overview of the geology of Egypt in the context of the geology of the Arab Region and Northeast Africa. An introductory chapter on history of geological research in Egypt sheds much light on the stages before and after the establishment of Egyptian Geological Survey (the second oldest geological survey worldwide), Hume's book and Said's 1962, 1990 books. The book starts with the Precambrian geology of Egypt, in terms of lithostratigraphy and classifications, structural and tectonic framework, crustal evolution and metamorphic belts. A dedicated chapter discusses the Paleozoic-Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonics and structural evolution of Egypt. A chapter highlights the Red Sea tectonics and the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba Rifts. Subsequent chapters address the Phanerozoic geology from Paleozoic to Quaternary. The Egyptian Impact Crater(s) and Meteorites are dealt with in a separate chapter. The Earth resources in Egypt, including metallic and non-metallic ore deposits, hydrocarbon and water resources, are given much more attention throughout four chapters. The last chapter addresses the seismicity, seismotectonics and neotectonics of Egypt.
This book gathers invited contributions from active researchers to provide an up-to-date overview of the geological setting of the Red Sea. It discusses aspects ranging from historical information to modern research in the Red Sea, and presents findings from rapidly advancing, emerging fields. This semi-enclosed young ocean basin provides a unique opportunity to study the development of passive continental margins in order to examine the current status of that region. In addition to studies on the Sea itself, it includes those from related fields on the littoral zone. The book is of interest to geoscientists and non-specialists alike.
This multi-author book has been prepared by an international group of geoscientists that have been active in rift research since the late 1960s. In 1984, an informal, grass-roots study group was initiated to compare individual research results and to explore in greater depth the apparent differences and similarities in the interpretations from various rift systems. The group became known as the CREST working group, an acronym of Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure and Tectonics, which not surprisingly became the title of this book.Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure, Tectonics presents an overview of the present state of understanding and knowledge of the processes of continental rifting from a multidisciplinary, lithospheric scale perspective. The chapters have been structured on each rift system in approximately the same synoptic sequence, so as to facilitate comparisons of rifts by the reader. The book complements its predecessors by presenting a more unified picture. It succeeds in presenting the status of a representative majority of the continental rift systems that have been at the forefront of recent research. For students and experienced researchers alike, this book will be of significant value in assessing the current state of knowledge and in serving as a framework for future research.
The northern Red Sea and the Dead Sea rift represent the incipient stage of accreting plate boundary, occurring partly at sea and partly on land. The evolution of the Red Sea as a deviatoric boundary between the Arabian and the Nubian plates started in the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene and has been active since. Oceanic crust is found in the axial trough of the central Red Sea but its northern province is still underlain by thinned and extended continental crust. The crystalline basement of the northern Red Sea is covered by a sequence of Late Miocene evaporites, unconformably overlain by unconsolidated sediments of Plio-Pleistocene age. The general trend of the northern Red Sea is NW-SE, but the presented data show there series of rifts and diapirs trending approximately N-S. Elongated rifts and diapirs were encountered also in the Gulf of Elat, oriented to the NNE-SSW. The terrain adjacent to the northern Red Sea and the Dead Sea rift is strongly uplifted, indicating that the region was affected by vertical as well as horizontal tectonic activity. The horizontal tectonic activity, caused by the Arabia-Nubia separation, is associated with extensional stresses that led to the evolution of the regional and the local series of rifts. The vertical tectonic activity is subsequent to the plates separation and is represented by the intensive uplift of the Red Sea margins, by the subsidence of the rifts' floor and the diapirism. It is suggested that the combination of horizontal and vertical tectonic activities are inherent characteristics to accreting plate boundaries, and that the vertical tectonic components are accentuated during slow spreading. The difference in the orientation between the NW-SE trending marginal faults and the bathyal structures indicates a jump of the axis of separation of Arabia from Nubia in the studied region. During the Miocene the axis propagated northwestwards, but since the Pliocene it propagated northwards. Analyses of the structures of the Suez and the Dead Sea rifts substantiate this conclusion.
Despite advances in understanding the structural development of magma-poor rift margins, the temporal and thermal evolution of lithospheric hyperextension during rifting remains poorly understood. In contrast to classic pure-shear models, multi-stage rift models that include depth-dependent thinning predict significant conductive crustal reheating during the necking phase due to buoyant rise of the asthenosphere. The Santa Lucia nappe of NE Corsica is an ideal laboratory to test for lower- and upper-crustal reheating as it preserves both Permian lower crust exhumed from granulitic conditions during Tethyan rifting and upper crust in contact with syn- and post-rift Mesozoic strata. This study uses novel zircon, rutile, and apatite LA-ICP-MS depth profile U-Pb petro- and thermochronology coupled with garnet trace-element thermometry to constrain the syn-rift thermal evolution of this lower-crustal section during progressive lithospheric necking hyperextension, providing compelling evidence for significant early reheating due to dependent thinning. Jurassic reheating is best recorded in the footwall of the Belli Piani Shear Zone (BPSZ), where 200-180 Ma zircon U-Pb overgrowths on Permian core populations and preservation of stranded-diffusion profiles in garnets resorbed during D2 deformation imply that the dominant footwall fabric formed as a result of large-magnitude ductile thinning and reheating to ~800°C during Jurassic hyperextension. Conductive reheating of the upper crust in the lower hanging wall to 500-550°C was achieved due to either juxtaposition against the hot BPSZ footwall during lower crustal exhumation or wholesale crustal reheating due to conductive steepening of geothermal gradients during early rifting. Rapid post-reheating cooling in response to extensional unroofing of the footwall underscores the importance of ductile shearing and thinning during crustal hyperextension. The results of this study suggest that the thermal evolution of magma-poor rifted margins mimics their multi-phase structural evolution, beginning with diffuse rifting and tectonic subsidence. Depth-dependent thinning triggers dramatic crustal reheating at the onset of necking and hyperextension, demonstrated here in the footwall and lower hanging wall of the Belli Piani subunit. Rapid cooling and exhumation of the lower crust and extreme crustal attenuation during continued hyperextension culminates in mantle exhumation, followed by thermal relaxation and subsidence to a steady-state thermal field coeval with the start of sea-floor spreading.