TY - JOUR

T1 - Transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading in the northern Red Sea area

AU - El Khrepy, Sami

AU - Koulakov, Ivan

AU - Gerya, Taras

AU - Al-Arifi, Nassir

AU - Alajmi, Mamdouh S.

AU - Qadrouh, Ayman N.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) for providing the Egyptian seismic network data and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for providing Saudi Arabian seismic network data. IK was supported by the RSF Project 20-17-00075. The authors are grateful to Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University for funding through Vice Deanship of research chairs. The authors thank the Deanship of Scientific Research and Researcher’s Services at King Saud University for editing service. Derived products from this publication, including arrival times of P and S waves and the full folder of the LOTOS code that allows reproducing all the results of this research are presented in the file repository: Ivan Koulakov. (2021). LOTOS code for tomographic inversion in the Red Sea area [Data set]. Scientific Reports. Zenodo. http:// doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4482096. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/3

Y1 - 2021/3

N2 - Lithosphere extension, which plays an essential role in plate tectonics, occurs both in continents (as rift systems) and oceans (spreading along mid-oceanic ridges). The northern Red Sea area is a unique natural geodynamic laboratory, where the ongoing transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading can be observed. Here, we analyze travel time data from a merged catalogue provided by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian seismic networks to build a three-dimensional model of seismic velocities in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the northern Red Sea and surroundings. The derived structures clearly reveal a high-velocity anomaly coinciding with the Red Sea basin and a narrow low-velocity anomaly centered along the rift axis. We interpret these structures as a transition of lithospheric extension from continental rifting to oceanic spreading. The transitional lithosphere is manifested by a dominantly positive seismic anomaly indicating the presence of a 50–70-km-thick and 200–300-km-wide cold lithosphere. Along the forming oceanic ridge axis, an elongated low-velocity anomaly marks a narrow localized nascent spreading zone that disrupts the transitional lithosphere. Along the eastern margins of the Red Sea, several low-velocity anomalies may represent crustal zone of massive Cenozoic basaltic magmatism.

AB - Lithosphere extension, which plays an essential role in plate tectonics, occurs both in continents (as rift systems) and oceans (spreading along mid-oceanic ridges). The northern Red Sea area is a unique natural geodynamic laboratory, where the ongoing transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading can be observed. Here, we analyze travel time data from a merged catalogue provided by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian seismic networks to build a three-dimensional model of seismic velocities in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the northern Red Sea and surroundings. The derived structures clearly reveal a high-velocity anomaly coinciding with the Red Sea basin and a narrow low-velocity anomaly centered along the rift axis. We interpret these structures as a transition of lithospheric extension from continental rifting to oceanic spreading. The transitional lithosphere is manifested by a dominantly positive seismic anomaly indicating the presence of a 50–70-km-thick and 200–300-km-wide cold lithosphere. Along the forming oceanic ridge axis, an elongated low-velocity anomaly marks a narrow localized nascent spreading zone that disrupts the transitional lithosphere. Along the eastern margins of the Red Sea, several low-velocity anomalies may represent crustal zone of massive Cenozoic basaltic magmatism.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102390028&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-021-84952-w

DO - 10.1038/s41598-021-84952-w

M3 - Article

C2 - 33692416

AN - SCOPUS:85102390028

VL - 11

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

IS - 1

M1 - 5594

ER -