Propagation of rifting along the Arabia‐Somalia Plate Boundary: The Gulfs of Aden and Tadjoura

The localization and propagation of rifting between Arabia and Somalia are investigated by assessing the deformation geometry and kinematics at different scales between the eastern Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Tadjoura, using bathymetric, magnetic, seismological, and structural evidence. Large-scale, southwestward propagation of the Aden ridge, markedly oblique to the Arabia-Somalia relative motion vector, began about 30 Myr ago between the Error and Sharbithat ridges. It was an episodic process, with stages of rapid propagation, mostly at rates >10 cm/yr, interrupted by million year pauses on transverse discontinuities coinciding with rheological boundaries between different crustal provinces of the Arabia-Somalia plate. The longest pause was at the Shukra-El Sheik discontinuity (≈45°E), where the ridge tip stalled for ≈13 Myr, between ≈17 and ≈4 Ma. West of that discontinuity, rifting and spreading took place at an azimuth (≈N25°±10°E) and rate (1.2±0.3 cm/yr) different from those of the global Arabia-Somalia motion vector (≈N39°, ≈1.73 cm/yr), implying an additional component of movement (N65°±10°E, 0.7±0.2 cm/yr) due to rotation of the Danakil microplate. At Shukra-El Sheik, the typical oceanic ridge gives way to a narrow, WSW trending axial trough, resembling a large fissure across a shallow shelf. This trough is composed of about eight rift segments, which result from normal faulting and fissuring along N110°–N130°E trends. All the segments step to the left southwestward, mostly through oblique transfer zones with en echelon normal faults. Only two segments show clear, significant overlap. There is one clear transform, the Maskali fault, between the Obock and Tadjoura segments. The latter segment, which encroaches onland, is composed of two parallel subrifts (Iboli, Ambabbo) that propagated northwestward and formed in succession. The most recent, southwestern subrift (Ambabbo) represents the current tip of the Aden ridge. We propose a mechanical model in which the large-scale propagation of the ridge followed a WSW trending zone of maximum tensile stress, while the small-scale propagation of its NW trending segments was dictated by the orientation of that stress. Oblique propagation was a consequence of passive lithospheric necking of the Arabia-Somalia plate along its narrow section, in map view, between Socotra and the kink of the Red Sea-Ethiopian rift, above the Afar plume. Individual ridge segments oriented roughly perpendicular to plate motion, like lithospheric cracks, were forced to jump southward because of confinement within the necking zone. Self-sustaining, plate-scale necking may explain why the Aden ridge did not connect with the Red Sea through Bab El Mandeb but continued straight into Afar.

[1]  A. Goodliffe,et al.  Continental rifting and initial sea-floor spreading in the Woodlark basin , 1995, Nature.

[2]  T. Yamazaki,et al.  Evolution of backarc rifting: Mariana Trough, 20°–24°N , 1995 .

[3]  Bertrand Meyer,et al.  Partitioning of crustal slip between linked, active faults in the eastern Qilian Shan, and evidence for a major seismic gap, the ‘Tianzhu gap’, on the western Haiyuan Fault, Gansu (China) , 1995 .

[4]  J. Avouac,et al.  Kinematics of the Asal Rift (Djibouti) Determined from the Deformation of Fieale Volcano , 1994, Science.

[5]  P. Huchon,et al.  The Somalia plate and the East African Rift System: present-day kinematics , 1994 .

[6]  A. Hirn,et al.  Triple junction and ridge hotspots: Earthquakes, faults, and volcanism in Afar, the Azores, and Iceland , 1993 .

[7]  Paul Tapponnier,et al.  Updated interpretation of magnetic anomalies and seafloor spreading stages in the south China Sea: Implications for the Tertiary tectonics of Southeast Asia , 1993 .

[8]  I. Manighetti Dynamique des systemes extensifs en afar , 1993 .

[9]  A. Hirn,et al.  Seismotectonics in the Republic of Djibouti, linking the Afar Depression and the Gulf of Aden , 1992 .

[10]  B. Hanan,et al.  Nd‐Sr‐Pb isotopic variations along the Gulf of Aden: Evidence for Afar Mantle Plume‐Continental Lithosphere Interaction , 1992 .

[11]  P. Huchon,et al.  Cinematique et deformation de la jonction triple mer Rouge - golfe d'Aden - rift Ethiopien depuis l'Oligocene , 1992 .

[12]  J. L. Mouël,et al.  Etude aeromagnetique et paleomagnetique du territoire de la republique de djibouti , 1992 .

[13]  F. Gasse,et al.  Contemporary, Holocene, and Quaternary deformation of the Asal Rift, Djibouti: Implications for the mechanics of slow spreading ridges , 1991 .

[14]  S. Carbotte,et al.  Mid-Ocean Ridges: Discontinuities, Segments and Giant Cracks , 1991, Science.

[15]  G. Acton,et al.  Block rotation and continental extension in Afar: A comparison to oceanic microplate systems , 1991 .

[16]  P. J. Fox,et al.  The Mid-atlantic Ridge (31°S–34°30′S): Temporal and spatial variations of accretionary processes , 1991 .

[17]  P. J. Fox,et al.  Second-order ridge axis discontinuities in the south Atlantic: Morphology, structure, and evolution , 1991 .

[18]  J. Sempere,et al.  Segmentation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 24° N and 30°40' N , 1990, Nature.

[19]  R. Searle,et al.  Structure of the Alula-Fartak Fracture Zone, Gulf of Aden , 1990 .

[20]  R. Armijo,et al.  Bookshelf faulting and horizontal block rotations between overlapping rifts in southern Afar , 1990 .

[21]  M. Richards,et al.  Flood Basalts and Hot-Spot Tracks: Plume Heads and Tails , 1989, Science.

[22]  Richard G. Gordon,et al.  Current plate motions , 1990 .

[23]  X. Pichon,et al.  The rotation of Arabia and the Levant fault system , 1988 .

[24]  G. Peltzer,et al.  "Offsets of Late Quaternary morphology, rate of slip, and recurrence of large earthquakes on the Chang Ma Fault (Gansu, China)"" , 1988 .

[25]  B. Sichler,et al.  Tectonics of an incipient oceanic rift , 1988 .

[26]  R. Searle,et al.  Structure and development of the Midocean Ridge Plate Boundary in the Gulf of Aden: Evidence from GLORIA Side Scan Sonar , 1988 .

[27]  Z. Garfunkel,et al.  Plate kinematics of the circum Red Sea—a re-evaluation , 1987 .

[28]  A. Dziewoński,et al.  Global seismicity of 1978: centroid-moment tensor solutions for 512 earthquakes , 1987 .

[29]  R. Armijo,et al.  Kinematics of the Sinai triple junction and a two-phase model of Arabia-Africa rifting , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[30]  A. C. Campbell,et al.  Along-axis variations in seafloor spreading in the MARK area , 1987, Nature.

[31]  B. Sichler,et al.  Tectonics of the westernmost Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Tadjoura from submersible observations , 1986, Nature.

[32]  C. Stein,et al.  The transition between the Sheba Ridge and Owen Basin: rifting of old oceanic lithosphere , 1985 .

[33]  P. Patriat,et al.  On the Stability of Triple Junctions and its Relation to Episodicity in Spreading , 1984 .

[34]  J. Achache,et al.  Episodic spreading and rift propagation: New paleomagnetic and geochronologic data from the Afar Nascent passive margin , 1984 .

[35]  J. Ruegg,et al.  A seismic gap along an accreting plate boundary : Example of the Djibouti Ridge, Afar, East Africa , 1983 .

[36]  Vincent Courtillot,et al.  Propagating rifts and continental breakup , 1982 .

[37]  J. R. Cochran The Gulf of Aden: Structure and evolution of a young ocean basin and continental margin , 1981 .

[38]  Colin Brown,et al.  A geophysical survey of the westernmost Gulf of Aden , 1980, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[39]  A. Galdeano,et al.  Propagation of an accreting plate boundary: a discussion of new aeromagnetic data in the Gulf of Tadjurah and southern Afar , 1980 .

[40]  H. Bizouard,et al.  Etude de la transition dorsale oceanique rift emerge; golfe de Tadjoura, Asal, Afar central; approche petrographique et mineralogique , 1980 .

[41]  H. Faure,et al.  Datations 230 Th/ 234 U des calcaires coralliens et mouvements verticaux a Djibouti , 1980 .

[42]  C. Vincent,et al.  Sismicite et microsismicite de la dorsale de Tadjoura, tectonique et frontiere de plaques , 1980 .

[43]  B. Sichler La biellette Danakile; un modele pour l'evolution geodynamique de l'Afar , 1980 .

[44]  A. Tarantola,et al.  Relevance of Afar seismicity and volcanism to the mechanics of accreting plate boundaries , 1979, Nature.

[45]  X. Pichon,et al.  A plate-tectonic analysis of the Red Sea—Gulf of Aden Area☆ , 1978 .

[46]  C. G. Chase Plate kinematics: The Americas, East Africa, and the rest of the world , 1978 .

[47]  R. Searle,et al.  Sonar studies of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Kurchatov Fracture Zone , 1977 .

[48]  Thomas H. Jordan,et al.  Present‐day plate motions , 1977 .

[49]  F. Barberi,et al.  Volcanism of Afar: Small-scale plate tectonics implications , 1977 .

[50]  E. Y. Kedar,et al.  Plate tectonics in the Red Sea region as inferred from space photography , 1971 .

[51]  R. Whitmarsh,et al.  A discussion on the structure and evolution of the Red Sea and the nature of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Ethiopia rift junction - The evolution of the Gulf of Aden , 1970, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[52]  P. Molnar,et al.  Plate Tectonics of the Red Sea and East Africa , 1970, Nature.

[53]  A. Laughton,et al.  Recent studies of the crustal structure in the Gulf of Aden , 1969 .

[54]  D. McKenzie,et al.  Evolution of Triple Junctions , 1969, Nature.

[55]  N. L. Falcon International Tectonic Map of Africa , 1969 .

[56]  Xavier Le Pichon,et al.  Sea‐floor spreading and continental drift , 1968 .

[57]  C. Williams,et al.  Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Mouth of the Gulf of Aden , 1967, Nature.