Propagation of an accreting plate boundary: a discussion of new aeromagnetic data in the Gulf of Tadjurah and southern Afar

Courtillot, Vincent; Galdéano, A.; Mouël, Jean‐Louis Le

doi:10.1016/0012-821x(80)90113-2

Cited by 94 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The phenomenon of the poleward younging of continuous and discontinuous spreading ridges was recorded from the Gulf of Aden (Tisseau, 1978;Courtillot et al, 1979;Cochran, 1981) (Bonatti, 1985), respectively. Courtillot et al (1979) explained the phenomenon as the manifestation of a poleward axial propagation of a lithospheric crack.…”

Section: Results From Magnetic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal evaluation of the northern Red Sea rift and Gulf of Suez, Egypt from geophysical data: 3-dimensional modeling

Saleh

Jahr

Jentzsch

et al. 2006

Journal of African Earth Sciences

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Section: Results From Magnetic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal evaluation of the northern Red Sea rift and Gulf of Suez, Egypt from geophysical data: 3-dimensional modeling

Saleh

Jahr

Jentzsch

et al. 2006

Journal of African Earth Sciences

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“…The Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and East African rift arms formed within a Paleogene flood basalt province associated with a mantle plume (e.g., Courtillot et al 1980;Ebinger & Sleep 1998;Beccaluva et al 2009;Bastow et al 2008Bastow et al , 2010. The thermal anomaly associated with the mantle upwelling persists today, as shown by low P-and S-wave upper mantle velocities beneath the uplifted plateaux of Arabia and northeast Africa (e.g., Debayle et al 2001, Benoit et al 2006, Montelli et al 2004, Bastow et al 2008.…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Length and Timescales of Rift Faulting and Magma Intrusion: The Afar Rifting Cycle from 2005 to Present

Ebinger

Ayele

Keir

et al. 2010

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

173

163

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Although fault and magmatic processes have achieved plate spreading at mid-ocean ridges throughout Earth's history, discrete rifting episodes have rarely been observed. This paper synthesizes ongoing seismic, structural, space-based geodetic, and petrologic studies from the subaerial Red Sea rift in Ethiopia where a major rifting episode commenced in September 2005. Our aims are to determine the length and timescales of magmatism and faulting, the partitioning of strain between faulting and magmatism, and their implications for the maintenance of along-axis segmentation. Most of the magma for the initial and subsequent 12 intrusions was sourced from the center of the Dabbahu-Manda Hararo rift segment. Strain is accommodated primarily by axial dike intrusions fed from mid-segment magma chamber(s). These findings show that episodic (approximate century interval), rapid opening of discrete rift segments is the primary mechanism of plate boundary deformation. The scale (∼65 km × 8 km) and intensity of crustal deformation (∼6 m), as well as the volume of intrusive and extrusive magmatism (>3 km 3 ), provokes a re-evaluation of seismic and volcanic hazards in subaerial rift zones.

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“…The junction with the Afar depression has been debated mainly on the basis of seismological observations, as well as tectonic, magnetic, and topographic data gathered mainly onshore \markcite [e.g., Courtillot et al, 1980 [Courtillot et al, 1980}. However, the whole area, as well as the Gulf of Tadjoura and the Ghoubbet, lacked any detailed bathymetric and geophysical data coverage, both on and off axis.…”

Section: Geodynamic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithospheric structure of a nascent spreading ridge inferred from gravity data: The western Gulf of Aden

Hébert¹,

Deplus²,

Huchon³

et al. 2001

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. The Aden spreading ridge (Somalia/Arabia plate boundary) does not connect directly to the Red Sea spreading ridge. It propagates toward the East African Rift through the Afar depression, where the presence of a hot spot has been postulated from seismological and geochemical evidence. The spreading direction (N37øE) is highly oblique to the overall trend (N90øE) of the ridge. We present and interpret new geophysical data gathered during the Tadjouraden cruise (R/V L 91talante, 1995) in the Gulf of Aden west of 46øE. These data allow us to study the propagation of the ridge toward the Afar and to discuss the processes of the seafloor spreading initiation. We determine the lithospheric structure of the ridge using gravity data gathered during the cruise with the constraint of available refraction data. A striking Bouguer anomaly gradient together with the identification of magnetic anomalies defines the geographical extent of oceanic crust. The inversion of the Bouguer anomaly is performed in terms of variations of crustal thickness only and then discussed with respect to the expected thermal structure of the mantle lithosphere, which should depend not only on the seafloor spreading but also on the hot spot beneath East Africa. Our results allow us to define three distinct lithospheric domains in the western Gulf of Aden. East of 44ø45'E the lithosphere displays an oceanic character (thermal subsidence recorded for the last 10 Ma and constant crustal thickness). Between 43ø30'E and 44ø10'E the lithosphere is of continental type but locally thinned beneath the axial valley. The central domain defined between 44ø10'E and 44ø45'E is characterized by a transitional lithosphere which can be seen as a stretched continental crust where thick blocks are mixed with thinned crust; it displays en echelon basins that are better interpreted as extension cells rather than accretion cells.

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Propagation of an accreting plate boundary: a discussion of new aeromagnetic data in the Gulf of Tadjurah and southern Afar

Cited by 94 publications

References 29 publications

Crustal evaluation of the northern Red Sea rift and Gulf of Suez, Egypt from geophysical data: 3-dimensional modeling

Crustal evaluation of the northern Red Sea rift and Gulf of Suez, Egypt from geophysical data: 3-dimensional modeling

Length and Timescales of Rift Faulting and Magma Intrusion: The Afar Rifting Cycle from 2005 to Present

Lithospheric structure of a nascent spreading ridge inferred from gravity data: The western Gulf of Aden

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