Red Sea rifting in central Egypt: constraints from the offshore Quseir province

Ball, Philip

Abstract

The formation of oceanic crust in the southern and central Red Sea is generally accepted to have started at c. 5 Ma. However, the nature of the crust in the northern Red Sea is still debated. This paper describes the rift architecture, dynamics and evolution of the northern Red Sea and identifies domains that relate to first-order geodynamic processes. The proximal margin domain is located onshore and is characterized by latest Oligocene-Miocene half-graben basins. New seismic interpretations show that the offshore region is a necking domain dominated by low-angle, high-offset extensional faults, which led to the exhumation of lower crustal gabbros at Brothers Islands. Two-dimensional forward models suggest that the necking domain passes into a distal margin domain, where the continental crust thins to c. 25 Ma, followed by Early Miocene crustal thinning accommodated by an east-dipping detachment fault. A Late Miocene phase with a flip of the detachment geometry led to the present day configuration.

Citation

Ali, M., Decarlis, A., Ligi, M., Ball, P., Bosworth, W., & Ceriani, A. (2022). Red Sea rifting in central Egypt: constraints from the offshore Quseir province. Journal of the Geological Society, 180(2), Article jgs2022-105. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2022-105

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 13, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 16, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2023
• Journal: Journal of the Geological Society
• Print ISSN: 0016-7649
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-479X
• Publisher: The Geological Society
• Volume: 180
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: jgs2022-105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2022-105
• Keywords: Geology
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/425060
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jgs/article-abstract/doi/10.1144/jgs2022-105/618965/The-Red-Sea-rifting-in-central-Egypt-constraints?redirectedFrom=fulltext