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Lineaments in Gravity Data of the Red Sea

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The Red Sea

Part of the book series: Springer Earth System Sciences ((SPRINGEREARTH))

Abstract

The structure of the crust beneath the Red Sea is obscured by thick evaporites, impeding progress in understanding the processes associated with continental rifting and leaving the nature of the crust (whether oceanic or continental) still controversial. Here, version 18.1 of the marine gravity field derived from satellite altimetry measurements by Sandwell and Smith (1997) is examined because the gravity field has the potential to reveal structure associated with the topography of basement beneath the evaporites and with crustal density variations. Comparing the satellite-derived data with gravity data from expeditions of RRS Shackleton in 1979 and RV Conrad in 1984, discrepancies are found to have standard deviations of 6.1 and 4.9 mGal, respectively, somewhat higher than parts of the gravity data from the open oceans. Coherent features in maps of these discrepancies suggest that some systematic errors in version 18.1 of the gravity field still remain. Nevertheless, they appear not to affect the short-wavelength structure of the data because simple image processing reveals some striking structural features in plan-view. The satellite-derived gravity data are enhanced by showing them with artificial shading and as directional second derivatives. The maps reveal lineaments that cross the central Red Sea. Many of them die out towards the coastlines and have convex-north-west shapes. These features are interpreted as evidence for migrating volcanic segments of oceanic crust, here suggesting a 1.5 mm year−1 along-axis movement of the sub-axial asthenosphere away from the Afar plume. This migration velocity is modest compared with the plate-opening rate (~12 mm year−1 here) and compared with velocities deduced from V-shaped ridges near Iceland and the Azores.

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Acknowledgments

This project is largely based on data derived from satellite altimetry and generously provided online by David Sandwell and Walter Smith. Those researchers and the agencies providing the Shackleton and Conrad gravity data are thanked for making these data freely available. The figures and many of the plate-tectonic and image processing calculations in this article were created or carried out with the “GMT” software system (Wessel and Smith 1991). Bill Bosworth kindly shared copies of geological maps of the Red Sea coasts and Yongcheol Park kindly gave a copy of his mantle V s model. This work was initiated by discussions with Marco Ligi and Enrico Bonatti aboard RV Urania during a project on the Thetis Deep (Mitchell et al. 2010a, b). Jim Cochran and Walter Mooney are thanked for reviews of this paper. Najeeb M.A. Rasul and others of the Saudi Geological Survey are also thanked for an invitation to the enjoyable 2013 Red Sea workshop, which motivated this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Neil C. Mitchell

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  1. Neil C. Mitchell
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Correspondence to Neil C. Mitchell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Saudi Geological Survey Center for Marine Geology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Najeeb M.A. Rasul

  2. Stewart Geophysical Consultants Pty. Ltd., Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Ian C.F. Stewart

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Mitchell, N.C. (2015). Lineaments in Gravity Data of the Red Sea. In: Rasul, N., Stewart, I. (eds) The Red Sea. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45201-1_6

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