Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of the Geological Society

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by CRANE, K. Articles by BONATTI, E. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

The role of fracture zones during early Red Sea rifting: structural analysis using Space Shuttle radar and LANDSAT imagery

¹ Hunter College, CUNY 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA
² Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, NY 10964, USA

The structural pattern of the Red Sea region, an area where continental lithosphere is cut by a young oceanic rift, was studied by means of satellite and space shuttle radar imagery. The Space Shuttle Mission 2 made two passes over the Red Sea bracketing a region transitional between the southern Red Sea, where true seafloor spreading started about 5 Ma BP, and the northern Red Sea where crust is probably continental, though thinned and stretched. Structures on these passes define bands of shearing in the African and Arabian margins parallel to the Dead Sea Fracture Zone (000–020°). Combinations of these data with LANDSAT information reveal four shear bands along the margins of the Red Sea and one oblique to the Gulf of Suez. We have named the northern three Red Sea shear zones detected on the SIR-A data, the Brothers–Dead Sea Fracture Zone, the Zabargad Fracture Zone and the Shagara Fracture Zone. Two sets of normal faults were also detected, trending 330–340° (parallel to the northern Red Sea coastline) and 310–320° (parallel to the axial deeps in the Red Sea). A map of the 310–320° faults bordering the Red Sea resembles a V-shaped wedge narrowing to the north near the Gulf of Suez. These faults may have formed as a result of the most recent push of seafloor spreading. If this is so, then there may be a propagating tectonic wedge moving from south to north which thins the continental crust up to distances of 300 km from the axis of spreading. Following continental deformation, oceanic crust may be emplaced in 'hot points' along the rift axis. These 'punctiform' oceanic spreading centres should propagate in the same direction as continental rifting. During this episode palaeo-shear zones probably act as barriers ('locked zones') to the axial propagation. One such case is at the Zabargad Fracture Zone where the oblique impact of the propagating rift against the palaeo-shear may have placed the Red Sea's western side under compression and uplift while the eastern side may have been subject to oblique extension with the formation of pull-apart basins. The Space Shuttle imagery allows integration of some of the northern Red Sea morphotectonic features with structures on the continent.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. R. Cochran and G. D. Karner Constraints on the deformation and rupturing of continental lithosphere of the Red Sea: the transition from rifting to drifting Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2007; 282(1): 265 - 289. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. O. R. Hermelin Variations in the benthic foraminiferal fauna of the Arabian Sea: a response to changes in upwelling intensity? Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1992; 64(1): 151 - 166. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. P. Tate The Clare Lineament: a relic transform fault west of Ireland Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1992; 62(1): 375 - 384. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. R. D. Boote, D. Mou, and R. I. Waite Structural evolution of the Suneinah Foreland, Central Oman Mountains Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1990; 49(1): 397 - 418. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. VENKATAKRISHNAN and S. J. CULVER Tectonic fabric of Sierra Leone, West Africa: implications for Mesozoic continental breakup Journal of the Geological Society, December 1, 1989; 146(6): 991 - 1002. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. J. STERN, A. KRONER, W. I. MANTON, T. REISCHMANN, M. MANSOUR, and I. M. HUSSEIN Geochronology of the late Precambrian Hamisana shear zone, Red Sea Hills, Sudan and Egypt Journal of the Geological Society, December 1, 1989; 146(6): 1017 - 1029. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Sestini Nile Delta: a review of depositional environments and geological history Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1989; 41(1): 99 - 127. [Abstract] [PDF]