Abstract
The Oligocene-Recent Red Sea rift is one of the preeminent examples of lithospheric rupture in the recent geological past, forming the basis for many models of how continental breakup occurs and progresses to the formation of new oceanic crust. Utilisation of low-temperature thermochronology in the Red Sea Rift since the 1980s has been key to constraining its spatio-temporal evolution, providing constraints for the propagation of strain and geomorphological development of its margins where datable syn-tectonic strata and/or markers are absent. We review the wealth of published apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He data from along the Red Sea, affording insights into the Oligocene-Recent thermo-tectonic evolution of the Nubian and Arabian margins. A regional interpolation protocol was employed to synthesise time-temperature reconstructions generated from the mined thermochronology data and burial histories produced from vitrinite reflectance and well data. These cooling-heating maps record a series of pronounced episodes of upper crustal thermal flux related to the development of the Oligocene-Recent Red Sea Rift. Assimilation of these regional thermal history maps with paleogeographic reconstructions and regional magmatic and strain histories provide regional perspectives on the roles of tectonism and geodynamic activity in Red Sea formation and their effects on rift margin development.
Highlights
The development of the Red Sea Rift since the Oligocene has facilitated the separation of Western Arabia from Africa
Key to resolving the spatiotemporal evolution of the Red Sea has been the application of lowtemperature thermochronology techniques, such as apatite fission track (AFT) and (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe), to constrain the tectono-thermal history of its rifted margins
Explanations for longitudinal asymmetry in Red Sea physiography include northeast tilting of Arabia due to its collision with Eurasia since the Paleogene (Bohannon et al, 1989), potential underplating due to Cenozoic volcanism being largely restricted to the Arabian plate (Dixon et al, 1989), the presence of a broad low velocity anomaly beneath Arabia (Ritsema et al, 1999; Debayle et al, 2001; Chang and Van der Lee, 2011), associated dynamic topography (Daradich et al, 2003), and strong lateral thermal gradients beneath Arabia towards significantly hotter temperatures along the Red Sea margin (Benoit et al, 2003)
Summary
Explanations for longitudinal asymmetry in Red Sea physiography include northeast tilting of Arabia due to its collision with Eurasia since the Paleogene (Bohannon et al, 1989), potential underplating due to Cenozoic volcanism being largely restricted to the Arabian plate (Dixon et al, 1989), the presence of a broad low velocity anomaly beneath Arabia (Ritsema et al, 1999; Debayle et al, 2001; Chang and Van der Lee, 2011), associated dynamic topography (Daradich et al, 2003), and strong lateral thermal gradients beneath Arabia towards significantly hotter temperatures along the Red Sea margin (Benoit et al, 2003) Both Red Sea margins are characterised by a marked northward decrease in rift flank topography, north of ∼21°N (Figure 1). After early Oligocene Afar magmatic activity, an extensive series of volcanic centres began erupting along the Western Arabian margin at 30 Ma, collectively referred to as the Older Harrats (Bosworth and Stockli, 2016)
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