Structural framework of the Gulf of Elat (AQABA), Northern Red Sea

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The Gulf of Elat (Aqaba) occupies the southern part of the Dead Sea rift. The rift is considered to be a plate boundary of the transform type (partially leaky) which connects seafloor spreading in the Red Sea with the Sagros‐Taurus zone of continental collision. The deep water in the Gulf of Elat, up to 1850 m, provides a rare opportunity to examine the process of continental rifting by marine geophysical techniques. The bathymetry alone provides much information about fault patterns in this area. The fragmentation of the once continuous Arabian‐African platform is a complicated process. It shapes the structure of the gulf which has developed through continuing tectonism, primarily consisting of faulting. Recent geophysical and geological studies of the Gulf of Elat including bathymetry, bottom photographs, continuous seismic profiles, seismic refraction, gravity, magnetics, heat flow, and coring provide new information about the shallow and deep crustal structure of this important segment of the world rift system. The shallow structure of the gulf is dominated by three elongated en echelon basins, which strike N20°–25°E. Undulations in the floors of the basins produce several distinct deeps. These basins are interpreted as pullaparts. The new data from the gulf suggest that classical models for the formation of these structures should be modified. Only one of the longitudinal faults of each depression is a strike‐slip fault, while the other is predominantly a normal fault. The situation with the other two sides of the basin which are supposed to be composed of normal faults may also be more complex than previously thought. At least in one case, one such boundary is composed of a strike‐slip fault while the other has no significant fault. Crustal models of the Gulf of Elat based on gravity data indicate that the basins are rather shallow and do not extend into the lower crust. The fill of the basins extends to about 5 km below the seafloor in. the northern and southern basins and less in the central basin. Most significant magnetic anomalies in the Gulf of Elat extend from land into the sea. None of them, however, extends from one coast to another across the gulf. This supports the geological evidence for a shear between the Arabia and Sinai plates. The magnetic field over the southern third of the gulf is rather smooth and markedly different from that of the other parts. The nature of the magnetics, the crustal structure of the western margin, and the heat flow values indicate a thinner crust and different tectonic processes in the southern part of the gulf. Overall, it seems that within the southern Gulf of Elat a transition occurs between crustal spreading that takes place in the Red Sea to a rifting without spreading that takes place along the Dead Sea transform. Spreading activity propagates from south to north. The most active place is the central basin which is being propagated northward into the shallow northern basin.