Geological evolution of the southeastern Red Sea Rift margin, Republic of Yemen IAN DAVISON Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, Universiy of London, Egham, Sure, United Kingdom TW20 OEX MOHAMED ALKADASI Deparment of Geolag) Royal Holloway, Universiy of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom TW20 EX, and Geol Department, Faculty of Science, Sana'a Universi, P.O. Bax 1247, Republi of Yemen SALAH ALKHIRBASH Geology Deparment, Faculy of Science, Sana'a University, P.O. Box 1247, Republic of Yemen ABDUL K. ALSUBBARY Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, Unversity of London, Egham, Sure, United Kingdons 1320 DEX, and Geology Deparment, Faculy of Science, Sana'a Univers, P.O. Box 1247, Republic of Yemen JOEL BAKER SUZANNE BLAKEY DAN BOSENCE CHRIS DART Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom TW20 OEX RICHARD HEATON Caim Energy, Caim House, 61 Dublin Steet, Edinburgh, United Kingdom EH3 ONL KEN McCLAY MARTIN MENZIES GARY NICHOLS LEWIS OWEN ANDREW YELLAND ABSTRACT ‘The tectonic evolution of the southeast- cer margin of the Red Sea Rift in western ‘Yemen has been investigated using a mult Aisciplinary field study of an east-west ‘transect between Al Hudaydab and Sana'a. Slow subsidence of up to 1 km occurred over ‘he area during a 100 my. period before rift ing. There was a major episode of flood vo ‘anism between ca. 30 and 20 Ma, and int- ‘portant extensional faulting begun after the ‘eruption of the volcanic rocks and ceased Defore middle to late Miocene sediments ‘and voleanie rocks were deposited uncon- {formably on top of rotated fault blocks on ‘the coastal Tihama Plain, Surface uplift has ‘produced the Yemen highlands, whose high- ‘st peak reaches an elevation of 3660 m. ‘This is attributed to plume heating and ‘eruption of >3000 m of voleanic rocks. Apa ite ision-track ages indicate early to mi le Miocene exhumational cooling. ages, postdating the major voleanic phase and contemporaneous with rifting. Volcanism was accompanied by emplace- ment of subvertical dike swarms, which gen erally strike north-northwest to northwest, broadly parallel to the Red Sea coastline. Major faults indicate northeast-southwest— directed extension. Large granitic sheets ‘and plutons (up to 25 kin wide) intruded the voleanic rocks. Approximately 30 km of ex- ‘tension has taken place across a 75-km-wide zone (B = 1.7) in 6-8 my. ‘The relative timing of volcanism followed by extension and uplift does not fit conven tonal models of passive or active rifting, We suggest that the proto-Red Sea Rift was ‘caused by regional plate stresses that ex- ploited lithospheric weakening caused by ‘the Afar plume. Appreciable doming only ‘occurred after the main episode of volean 3m, which suggests that magmas extruded before maxionum thermal expansion of the lithosphere took place. INTRODUCTION Usually older continental margins cannot provide clea evidence ofthe carly stages of rifting, because they are either uplifted and ‘completely eroded to basement or are bur- ied beneath large thicknesses of postrift sed iments. This paper summarizes the results of a study ofan east-west transect ofthe south- eastern margin of the Red Sea, which pro- vides a rare opportunity to study extensive, well-preserved, onshore exposures of the carly tages of rifting. Emphasis is placed on the nature and relative timing of crustal ex- tension, magmatism, sedimentary deposi- tion, uplift, and erosion, and we assess the applicability of current rifting models. ‘The Red Sea area is a nascent oceanic basin, which began rifting in late Oligocene Geological Society of America Bulletin, v, 106, p, 1474-1493, 16 figs, November 1994 1474 Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surey, United Kingdom TW20 0EX and is estimated to have S-6-my-old ocean crust along its axis (See, for example, 1zel- din, 1987; Sultan and others, 1992; Fig. 1) Many different models of passive (MeGuire and Bohannon, 1989), active (White and McKenzie, 1989), pullapart (Makris and Rihm, 1991), and asymmetric rifting (Dixon and others, 1989), as well as low-angle de- tachments (Voggenreiter and others, 1988), hhave been suggested for this region. With the exception of Menzies and others (1991, 1992) and Huchon and others (1992), ‘most previous work has focused on either the western side of the Red Sea oF the east- ‘em side in Saudi Arabia, Litle systematic integrated geologic work had been carried ‘out in northern and western Yemen, except {or reconnaissance maps based on remote sensing images (Grolier and Overstreet, 1978; Kruck, 1983; Kruck and others, 19 Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, 1992). Many papers have focused on the ‘magmatism of the Yemen highlands (for ex- ample, Moseley, 1969; Civetta and others, 1978, 1980; Chiesa and others, 19832, 19830, Capaldi and others, 1987; Manetti and oth- ers, 1991; Mohr, 1991; Chazot and others, 1994; and Chazot and Bertrand, 1993), but there is @ need to integrate these studies ‘more fully withthe tectonie and sedimentary history. Theoretical considerations indicate that large flood volcanic provinces, like the ‘Afar-Yemen region, may be explained byGEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN ‘SAUDI ARABIA es [_] Precene -ecent Ose [ be caperac wear [a] esozoe seamen i chen Basement cae wate feat ae eee Tererysrente [Pe] amrrtworsic Ma a Figure 1. Geologie map of western Yemen showing main rock types and structures. Adapted from Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources (1992) and our own data. the action of mantle plumes (White and ‘MeKenzie, 1989), but this mode! has still not been rigorously tested against geologic field evidence in Yemen. ‘Western Yemen i still seismically ative, and historie volcanic eruptions have been recorded (MeDonald, 1972; Pilaker and ‘others, 1987; Ambraseys and Melile, 1983; Fig. 2). It has undergone late Miocene to Holocene uplift in an arid climate, which has produced up to 3.6 km of vertical surface relief (Fig. 3). Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994, ‘The spectacular landscape ofthe transect is divided into several regions on the basis ‘of topography and structure (Fig. 3). (I) ‘The Tihama Plain, which isa 40-km-wide coastal plain trending north-south, rises gently from the Red Sea shores to an altitude of ~200 m in the east, where it is bounded by the Great Escarpment (Fig. 3). 2) The Great Escarpment, which trends "north-northwest-south-southeast and can be traced from southern Yemen northward for 1000 km into Saudi Ara- bia, isthe most striking topographic fea- ture of the Red Sea margin, rising abruptly from an altitude of ~200 m to >1000 m above sea level. (3) The northwestern Yemen highlands, which form a broad pla- teau, reach an altitude of 3660 m at Jabal [Nabi Shuyab (Fig. 4), the highest point on the Arabian Peninsula, The highest areas correlate closely with the present outcrop of the Tertiary voleanie rocks on unextended crust (Fig. 2), which suggests thatthe high round is related to the piling up of thick 1475aepea -REDSEA 4 DAVISON AND OTHERS location with year Gen ep ese 14 | °B Procene-cuatemary volcanic rocks | Joo | a Hor Springs | 6. Known earnquakeeptenter - ‘ventoth century teleseismic Approximate eartnquake epicenter | nih year Cutline of Yernen Voleanie Group meters 100 km ae igure 2. Topographic map of Yemen showing that the highest elevations (>2000 m) closely correlate with main flood basalt field. Peaks ‘reach up to 3660 m. Data from topographic maps at 1:250 000 published by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence in 1986, Hot spring locations from EI Shatoury and others (1979) and earthquake epicenters from Ambraseys and Melville (1983). voleanie flows coupled with enhanced heat flow. The Sanaa Basin has an ephemeral centripetal drainage pattern that is centered fon Sana’a at an altitude of 2200 m, with an ‘outlet into a major wadi system inthe south- west part of the basin, which eventually 1476 rains into the Red Sea. The maximum thickness of Quaternary clastic sediments and voleanie ash that accumulated within this depression is only ~80 m. Several kilo- ‘meters to the west of the unextended vol- canic plateau, deeply dissected mountains of the central area of the transect have an av- erage elevation of ~1500 m. This area is {dominated by rotational fault blocks expos- ing the prerift Mesozoic sedimentary andvol- canie rocks. Some of the extended areas are internally drained, the deepest part of these Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN TWAMAPLAIN —goGfiATeycy RIFT MOUNTAINS OF NAW. YEMEN SANAVABASIN ante mourtans Gey seg oct) Eos nih moan eas + Ata an foming | ~~ paras Binge Senda > <_—Toms Oranage >< Dende» «_—Ceniptal ———» eames spats ravage Brag =| rmecdert ranage CE gpa nats ven 7 Saab sage 3000-4 Ree See Coastline intemal Trap topograthy Plocene-fecert 3000 erage Cea Seer a cate = Figure 3. Schematic section from Sana’a to AI Salif showing main geomorphological landseape of northwestern Yemen. basins corresponding with the greatest down- ‘throw on the faulted blocks. ‘The absence of sedimentary racks within ‘most of the major valleys and the thin rego- lth cover suggests that denudation rates are probably low and that relatively little sedi ment is stored within the transeet area, be- cause it is rapidly transported tothe Tihama Plain, Such styles of sedimentation support the view that litle syn-Red Sea Rift sedi- ‘mentation took place within the mountains during the whole extensional history of this ‘margin. The absence of postritt sedimentary fil n the highlands allows direct observation of the rift floor structure. STRATIGRAPHY OF NORTHWESTERN YEMEN Strata exposed in Yemen span the Ar- chean to the Cenozoic (Fig 5). These rocks are described below with reference to lith- logic logs compiled at representative points along the transect, The whole strati- graphic succession is described in detail, be- cause it provides an important record of the tectonic setting and events leading up to Red Sea rifting. Precambrian Basement Basement rocks are generally believed to be Late Proterozoic in age, although older Late Archean ages have recently been ob- tained from gneisses south of the transect, ‘cast of Rada (Fig. 1, Whitehouse and others, 1994), Rock types include metasedimentary schist, amphibolite, migmatite, gnciss, and Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 ‘granite intruded by Precambrian granite and Mesozoic mafic and felsic dikes. The main basement structures trend approximately north-south t0 northeast-southwest in the northctn part ofthe transect area and do not Appear to influence the orientation of the north-northwest-south-southeast-trending Red Sea margin (Fig. 1). ‘Aktbra Shale This unit is present throughout the transect area except in the Jabal Al Dhamir area. It unconformably overlies the base ‘ment, and the equivalent strata in Saudi ‘Arabia have been dated as Permian using pollen (Kruck and Thiele, 1983). The unit Teaches up to 130 m thick, but the average thickness is ~40-80 m, The main rocks are light gray sitstone and laminated dark gray shale, and we interpret them to be flvio- slacial in origin (Fig. 6A), ‘This unit was studied in the transect area in Wadi La’ah north of Al Mahwit (Fig. 4), where 150 m of medium-grained sandstone nd siltstone, interbedded with dark purple and gray shale, lies directly on granitic rocks of the basement (Fig. 6B). Toward the top of the section, the sandstones show evidence of bipotar eross-bedding, probably indicating a tidal influence close to the main contact with the limestone of the overlying Aman Group (Fig. 6B). Farther west in Wadi Siham, the lowest units of the Kohlan are cross-bedded, very regions and drainage types constituting the coarse-grained quartz sandstone with thin (decimeter) quartz clast conglomerate, The Kohlan Sandstone may be interpreted as 2 transgressive unit consisting of a lower con- tinental clastic sequence passing through to shallow marine sandstone, and eventually to marine limestones of the Aman Group. Carpentier and Lamare (quoted in El- Nakhal, 1987) recorded plant fossils of Li assic age from the Kohlan Sandstone of Wadi La’ah, ‘Amran Group ‘This group is composed of massive ma- rine limestone and thin shale interbeds ig. 7) Limestone consists of dark skeletal micrte with skeletal wackestone and pack- stone. The skeletal allochems, together with muddy textures, indicate a shelf environ- ‘ment of moderate depth during deposition of the Atmran Group. Ismail (1993) and ‘Anbaawy (1984) determined » Bajocian to Kimmeridgian age for the Amran in north- cern Yemen, whereas ALThour (1992) re- ported late Callovian to Tithonian forami- nifera. Major vertical or areal variations were not recognized in the Amran Group in the 100-km-long east-west transect. ‘The Amran Group records a consistent water depth during deposition of the whole sequence, implying the subsidence rate ‘more or less equaled the sediment accumu lation rate (8 mim.) for some 50 my. The transect area became emergent following a relative sea-level fll, eading to vadose dis- solution and cementation before the depo- sition of the Tawilah Group. aa“apy aun wy oq exqY Jo voREDO| AY PoTED TF an pe “wnoys 248 1 pe Big ur paddow seoae ony ou, “sed spor pue saumanars sofas 008 payndas *y aan a 2yues6 22) al sewog Hes 21829 8 eow wey Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 1478TTHOLOGIGAL [rag BESCRIPTION-__{"{m 180 160 170 +90 100 TEamapatacasic 75) 4999 | Volanie ¥ es ae eee [emery |renke | Hover coarse a ecaed sande eee deme | sno] SS boow ve few fin eandetona| 400 | #23 =¥=! ‘noadar on CRETACEOUS. 5 ere Lt Fe hat Sansin gone reared 3 rwoner| goer Eos | on | St a cemsanty | 23] sae, Callovian, TL steal mest, 508 level g TOL stcietaackesione sea shew) svosaon ares oe 5 sa send | Slt oer (SEL | | Rieti Erato main ‘TRIASSIC nan Gancgray gwen | Staconene Shale Soe sic, Samctno |? | Show water PERMIAN Figure 5, Lithostratigraphy and tectonic events along northwestern Yemen transect. Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 1479DAVISON AND OTHERS. Tian arena [EE LumwoLocte pescriprion S| cays DIAMCTTE, bay een Gteciatpesstly | aR ie tnoce tated and polahad surasos =" Seeds Grenpcta metout| Soy Maersizedonsos of coarse sand are present “0 : SALE. drt ry, ctanar cm sal bag wit caboate ne Saar STONEMRE eas eae w ® Prominent surged tle hots, SHALE, te pnd paral anr ante hyn, ro Pa DROPSTONE of small edge-rounded Eee tase Stared ps re anne Proxima Sein! » acioteoustine: ‘SHALE: with coarse SANDSTONE layers containing mm-cm snase uot i a GAAGAL STRATED SURFACE Samosa imate Sits gry ran ey mance So ea von Han SRten oe as a SrA “ta gay A SLSTONE lt omy seen wt basomer pois susaquous SHALE” dark tyson sae, Bocy sorts °. CONGLOMERATE mth basen’ petbies Slaciolecustine Precambrian basement A Figure 6, (A) Lithologic log of Akbra Shale at lat. 15°44'26°N, long. 43°39°41°E. Location marked on Figure 4, (B) Lithologie log of the Kohlan Sandstone from Wadi La'ah § km north of Al Mabwit. Location marked on Figure 4 ‘Tawilah Group ‘The overlying Tawilah Group isa silici clastdominated sequence that erops out ‘over a large area of northern and central ‘Yemen. Age determinations range from Late Cretaceous to Eocene (Al-Subbary, 1990; Al-Subbary and others, 1994). The group is ~400 m thick inthe eastern part of the transect between Tawilah and Sana'a (Fig. 4) but thins westward of Tawilah to 150-200 m in the Jabal Al Dhamir area. “The group has been divided into two forma- tions (Fig. 8). The lower Ghiras Formation ‘consists of medium. to very coarse-grained, trough cross-bedded sandstone that occurs in decimeter- to meter-thick beds, amalga- ‘mated into units tens of meters thick (Fig. 8). They are generally mature quartz arenites. Conglomerate beds of well- rounded vein quartz and quartzite casts are common, mainly at the base of sandstone units that reach up to several meters in thickness. Thinner beds of fine sandstone ‘and siltstone make up <20%% of the se- ‘quence, and shale is uncommon (Fig. 8). A ‘prominent purple ferruginous sandstone ho- zon up to 10 m thick is present in the Shi bam area (Shibam Member; El-Anbaawy, 1985) and can be laterally correlated >100 km along the study transect. The upper Medj-Zir Formation contains shallow ma- rine sandstone with agglutinated marine foraminifera in the lower part, with some nodular beds (Fig, 8; Al-Subbary, 1990), Distinct multicolored horizons indicate that ppedogenic processes were responsible for important hematite concentrations. Conti- ‘ental uvial sandstone and paleosols dom- {nate in the uppermost part of the Med-Zir Formation, with the later clearly represent ing periods of nondeposition and soil deve: ‘opment in a semiarid environment. Paleocurrent data, collected from Nuvial channel deposits in ‘the transect area and south of i, suggest flow tothe northeast and eastnortheast (Fig. 8), consistent with the observed eastward facies change to more ‘marine sediments recorded in. southern ‘Yemen (Al-Subbary, 1990; Beydoun, 1968) ‘The bulk of the Tawilah Group is inter- preted as a sequence of braided, fluvial- channel deposits interbedded in its upper sections with ferruginous paleosol (ferri- crete) horizons (AFSubbary, 1990; Al- Subbary and Nichols, 1991; Menzies and others, 1992), Major angular unconformities were not observed within the Tawilah Group despite its estimated 100 my. duration (latest Ju- ass to Eocene). Subsidence was very slow, but probably sporadic, as suggested by the Tong periods of nondeposition represented by the very mature paleosol and ferricrete ‘deposits ‘The Lahima Member isa distinct unit at the top of the Tawilah Group in Wadi La- hima, south of Al Mahwit Fig. 9). Itconsists of calcareous siltstone with concretions, in- tercalated with micrite containing gastro- pods and bivalves it is interpreted as depos- its of a low-relief continental environment Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 199%GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN LITHOLOGIC DESCRIPTION DEPOSITIONAL HEIGHT ENVIRONMENT | ( ciay sur sano tL Bi ‘Shallow marine, Say nuences Fluvial channel ‘and overbank ‘deposits with Paleoso! evelopment ‘SANDSTONE - medium-grained, well sorted and clean quartz arenite with bepolar ross: stratification (east and west rected palaeocurrents) in 20-40 {n thick Sets, interbedded with thin SHALE. Silictied wood ‘SANDSTONE - pale gr medumgrined quai aente ti mua late units up fo 10_m thik” Crose-bedded throughout in 015 up fa motre thick Pateeocurren insiators {cross beds) Indicate ow toward Soutwest MUDSTONE grey, purple and yellow mottled mudstone forming adogenic horizons up to a metre {hick interpreted as feruginous. paleoso's. with some lakes (Fig. 9). The contact with the base of the voleanic pil is conformable. Yemen Volcanic Rocks ‘Two main groups of voleanic rocks ae ia the transect area (Civetta and others, 1978; Capaldi and others, 1983, 1987; Fig. 2): (2) Widespread Oligocene-Miocene food vol: canic rocks yielding K/Ar ages of 18-29 Maare designated here asthe Yemen Vol canic Group. These are intruded by gran- ite along the Great Escarpment. 2) The area also includes diserete fields of Plo- cene-Holocene alkaline intrapate volea- noes (northwest of Sana'a, Marib, Atag, Dhamar-Rada) (Chiesa and others, 19839; Capaldi and others, 1987; Fig 4). The Oligocene-Mioeene flood volcanic rocks increase in thickness westward fom 700 m of mainly ash-al til several Klo- meters northeast of Sana'a, to 1500 m of acid volcanic rocks in the Sana’a region, and finally to 2000-3000 m of dominantly basal tic voleanic rocks (Fig. 10). Voleanie prod- ucts include subalkaline and alkaline basalt, Dasanite, hawaiite, trachyandesite, and ccomenditic rhyolite ignimbrite flows. Silica contents of the flood volcanic rocks are ‘markedly bimodal, with samples containing 50 = 4 and 72 = 4 wit SiOs (Baker and ‘thers, 1993b). Elemental and Pb, Nd, and Sr isotopic data confirm that most of the ‘exiensive silicic magmas are the produet of censtal fractionation from basaltic melts (Baker and others, 1993a, 19936). ‘The Oligocene Miocene flood voleanic rocks appear to have been constructed by eruption of extensive fissure-fed basaltic flows, a number of large basaltic shield vol- ‘canoes, and ignimbrite and ash-fall deposits from individual calderas, Sedimentary Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 lenses are within the voleaie pile and are composed of calcareous sandstone, mud: stone, and reworked mafc and silicic vol canie class that are a few meters thick and tens to hundreds of meters across. Abun- dant freshwater gastropods and plant mate- Fal are locally present. We interpret these sediments to have been deposited in small lakes formed in depressions on @ voleanic landscape. Dikes are common but ae especialy well developed in the lower part ofthe volcanic pile in the western part of the transect. They Aare up to 20 m wide and are predominantly basaltic, Most were intruded peependicolar to the volcanic flows and were subsequently tilted during poswolcanie normal felting In addition to the Oligocene-Miocene flood volcanism, a field of Quaternary age intraplate alkaline magmatism is located northeast of Sana'a, The field consss of a 1500 km, 100- to 250-m-thick basaltic pla- teas peppered by many scoria cones con- structed by strombolian and phreatomag- tatc eruptions (Fg. 4) Alignment of cones slong a north-northwest trend is common. Pleistocene to Holocene voleanic rocks have 8 havaite composition and are clearly is tint from the older, more widespread flood voleanic rocks. They havea similar ehemis- lay to the Hlarrat magmatism of Saudi Are bia and Jordan (Camp and Roobol, 1989). Hot springs are located throughout the Yemen voleanic highlands indicating that the area still has a high heat flow (Fig. 2; ElShatoury and others, 1979). The most r- centvoleanc eruption in Yemen occurred in 1937 with an explosive felsic event south of the transect area near Dhamar (Mac- Donald, 1972) and the voleano Jabal Al Ii is reported tobe dormant (Pafker and otb- et, 1987). Granitie Rocks In the western part of the transect, alka line granitic plutons up to 25 km across (ast-west dimension) crop out sporadically along the north-south-trending Great Es- cearpment (Figs. 1 and 4), The plutons may be the exposed roots of a chain of caldera centers. K/Ar ages suggest that they were ‘emplaced between 20 and 26 Ma (Civetta and others, 1978; Overstreet and others, 1979; Capaldi and others, 1987), which consistent with similar K/Ar ages of large amounts of silicic voleanic and pyroclastic rocks erupted in the upper part of the vol- canic pile. Our field mapping has shown that the Great Escarpment is not a continuousDAVISON AND OTHERS Gay to UPPER KIMMERIDGIAN RAYDAH FORMATION celia] umoroae | srozouaron [wrenPneranon Be Desenierion | “(PORAMS) vale Tavash Group esl Sos, agle Soa Saoe \z] Pees tee, - 2ft eet cgun'™ | Permocaiculus| Shallow marine a\5 gunediceioas | Imopntas | Heo! ‘egseave 8|3 = Elz wemequn ga 5 ie medmasive lee forruginous fossil. 5) fey ; FEY | consening upward soot "vercoora ne had fe Er 12enae grarad ror “anaes 300 mesa! sme shalew marino I wackostone | Aedmanoides | gromnatng wih ‘tpeont tito eam rable Tick masse tcoultcis nti ‘Satna 2s 34 ofinmina gy " key ‘@ stomatoporods brachiopods © Mice P Packaione burrows 1A casbopods W Wackesone G Granstone bias shal estore Figure 7. Lithologic og of Amran Formation, from Al-Aydein, Wadi Thula, lat, 1535°N, Jong, 43°50'E. Based on Al Thour (1992) and our own observations. See Figure 4 for location. belt of granite plutons (Blakey, 1994 asi dicated on previous photogeological maps (Kruck and others, 1984; Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, 1992), but is also com posed of a significant amount of silicic por- phyritie lava, The granite in the transect area (Jabal ‘Hufash and Jabal Bura) covers a surface 1482 area of ~620 km? and consists of very weathered, coarse-grained granite and sj- enite. The granite generally has steeply ping lateral intrusive contacts and flat-lying ‘upper intrusive contacts with flood basalt and the Amran Group. There was little dex formation of the country rocks during intra- sion, and some skarn mineralization and Figure 8, Lithologi log of Tawilah Group northwestern Yemen. At Jabal Marmar, lat, 15°35'N, long. 44°24'E, northwest of Sana‘a (see Fig. 4 for location). OO contact metamorphism of the Amran lime- stone have been observed. The intrusion at Jabal Bura is a porphyritc alkali feldspar granite with minor quantities of altered biotite and arfvedsonite. The Jabal Hufash granite intrudes the Yemen Volcanic ‘Group, and the contac is marked by numer- ‘ous granitic dikes, It has a hypidiomorphic texture of quartz, feldspar, and amphibole ‘The granite terrain is generally above 2000 m elevation and has the steepest slopes, straightest streams, and greatest river gradients in the transect area, suggest- ing it has been uplifted quite recently and is resistant to erosion. ‘Sym- to Postrift Deposits on the Tihama Plain and in the Red Sea Synrift deposits have not been found cropping out onshore. Neither wells nor seismic data give any clues as to the nature of the synrft strata in northern Yemen, However, syarft continental sandstone and fine-grained lacustrine deposits have been recognized farther north onshore inthe Jid- dah to Jizan area of Saudi Arabia (Brown and others, 1989). Several wells have pene- trated to depths of 3 km on the Tihama Plain and offshore in the Red Sea, and the ‘oldest encountered sediments associated with basin opening are a sequence of int bedded, undeformed carbonate and clastic rocks found in the Zaydiyal-1 well (Fig. 4), Which have been dated as early to middle Miocene (Hughes and Beydoun, 1992). "These strata clearly lie beneath a major dis. conformity formed atthe base ofthe middle to upper Miocene main halite unit imaged ‘on reflection seismic data, which dips gently (<5") westward toward the Red Sea. The relationship of these eatliest-drilled strata to the underlying units isnot totally clear as the tilted fault-block topography, seen on the poor seismic data and at outcrop on the eastern edge of the Tihama Plain, abruptly falls below the limit of seismic resolution westward (Fig. 11). We classify the sedi- ‘ments above the disconformity as postrift deposits because they do not appear t0 be Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994‘Smu0ud Tos sown aBy sno eee = ge Soames “ysodeq 2 NIU MOTIVHS-OWTE Sueuino 3 . a 3 ning ssojouan | = g | Gra] : ‘Kydei6y neue a eae dnoip 91Ue910A UeweA uonewsog 412-[pew aby —— oMiUOROROMonE | miuard Sree cree) Nene asian tira aon uoyug |“ ———_“Suwoura wan osanvind kigdaa GnvAaNvs | > “ysodeq ‘s1ueuIno i Ne fee “oored 38 F oF |ABojouNT i 26 (CORT 3 Tate | ie aw eH Ue ae IR ED : eon Ce cee eer ome i z 1483, Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994DAVISON AND OTHERS Ferrirete Claystone Sitstone —_>+___. Claystone chert TAWILAH GROUP Limestone =| sandatone Figure 9. Lithologic log of contact between top of Tawilah Group and Yemen Volcanic Figure 134. affected by major extensional faulting, other ‘than that due to gravity sliding on sale de- tachments, where extensional strain is bal- anced by contractional strain atthe front of the slides (Heaton and others, 1993). This interpretation differs from that of Hughes ‘and Beydoun (1992), who interpreted the entire halite unit as synrif, Above the initial postrft deposits, a ba- sinwide evaportic unit thickens westward 1384 Lithology Lithology Wk ostme estme LEGEND 5 © 2 Gos & PE cette tore 7 2 Fi Fe FE] Voleaniastc roots s ke] Sopa z° 8 Sills and dikes = ° Areas cee, S asfe se ctsone & Y Proededing on oxide or {thin shale basalt wo la LAHIMA MEMBER Lithology cestme 45 40 135 8 B 3 YEMEN VOLCANIC GROUP ° ic = 20m yoowish-whte ‘sandstone from a few hundred meters of mainly anh dite in the Zaydiyah-1 well to a largely ha- lite unit, estimated to have an original thick- ‘ness of up 10 2 km in the basin depocenter situated 20-30 km offshore, Seismic data in dicate that the base ofthe salt subsided 4-5 km below sea level (Fig. 11). The original salt has become diapirc, and five large salt domes reach the surface onshore (Ek Anbaawy and others, 1992; Davison and others, 1994, Fig. 4). Ofshore, seismic data confirm the presence of a wide range of hhalokinetic structures, including large de tached salt canopies now lying 2-3 km above their original level (Heaton and others, 1993). The majority ofthe offshore islands, such as the Farsan, aze formed from reefs built on the tops of diirs. Above the main evaporite group, a thick cyclic succession of mixed evaporite and Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN West (rift margin) 183330N agaraze S080 mast | wact Lahima section | (thickness =>1500 m) >1000 m proximal matic ‘and slide pyrocaste, rocks 05-20 m thick sub- alkaline basal Howe East EBB major ignimbrite tow units welded and unwed ata a pyroclastic rocks (lithic tufts) heat Tass go j egy SERS vate ioe eee ees Hoe sandstone and sitstone| seereveaee_| [ages etn | [usa] | aes ce, stice basalt tows orecca | | rote aa 050 mast eI ‘uncontormity? Figure 10, Yemen Volcanic Group lithostratigraphy across transect area (Baker and others, 19938), clastic rocks of middle to late Miocene age increases in evaporite content from west 10 cast. Paleoenvironmental interpretation of this succession suggests a relatively shallow basin, with periodic connection to the ocean and filled by clastic input shed by alluvial ans and rivers from the east, During this, time the eoastiine must have repeatedly un- dergone cycles of lateral migration of up to 100 kam, from a position close to the Great Escarpment at the eastern edge of the ‘Tihama toa remnant hypersaline lake in the center of the Red Sea, {At the end of the Miocene epoch, the Af rican and Arabian plates finaly split apart, and active voleanism began in the center of the Red Sea Basin. This was marked by a change in sedimentation in the offshore area, which in the final part of the postrft phase is characterized by development of a widespread open marine carbonate plat- form that reaches up to 400 m thick, with biostratigraphic affinities with the Indian Ocean (Jones and Racy, 1994). In the Tihama area, the sedimentation continued to be dominated by alluvial -uvial process- es, and a similar pattern continues at the present day. ‘The Zayaliyah-1 well (Fig. 4) encountered ~3000 m of middle Miocene to Holocene ocks, indicating that sedimentary loading is important (Hughes and Beydoun, 1902). Thermal subsidence has presumably net yet Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 started, because high heat flow is still re. corded inthe oi exploration wells, Geother: ‘mal gradients reach $0°C/km onshore in the Zayalyab-, ancl up to 80 °C/km oshore near the continental-oceanic crust transition in the AFMecthag-2 well (Fig. 4; Barnard and others, 1992), STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE EASTERN RED SEA MARGIN, YEMEN Pre-Red Sea Tectonies Mesozoic rifting in Yemen commenced in the Early to Middle Jurassic with the for- ‘mation of the Shabwtah, Balhaf, and Mar srabens (Fig 1. The widespread deposition of the Kohian, Amran, and Tawilah sedi- ments between these grabens indicates that 4 slow regional subsidence of up to 1 km ‘ceurred from Permian to Eocene time (210 ‘my. period). The subsidence occurred over fan area that is 100 widespread, with an in- compatible timing, and to0 prolonged to be explained by thermal subsidence astociated with the ALJaw&-Marib graben alone, and the reason for this slow sag is stil not clear. Red Sea Rift Tectonics: Siyle, Distribution, and Amount of Extension ‘The structure of the study transect passes from the elevated and unfaulted plateau of the Yemen voleanic rocks in the east to west-dipping tilted extensional fault blocks farther west (Figs. 4, 12, and 13). The ex- tended region varies in width berween 80 and 120 km from the Red Sea coastline (Fig. 4). Within the transect, we have stud: ied the structural geology of two areas (Bail ‘and Al Mabwit) in detail (Figs. 12 and 13), and our structural observations described ‘below mainly refer to these two areas. The tilted fault blocks are typically be- tween 2 and 6 km across and generally in- corporate all of the Phanerozoic sedimen- tary section and the Precambrian erystalline ‘basement. Clearly defined stratigraphic thicknesses allow fault displacements to be accurately estimated, and displacements are usually 05-2 km with a maximum of km of slip estimated on a favlt that bounds the ‘Tihama escarpment neat Jabal Al Dhamie (Fig. 128). Faulting has rotated beds on average 35°, With a maximum of $5°in Wadi Lahima, 10 km southwest of Al Mahvit (Fig. 13), There are no significant differences in the rotation of bedding across each major fault plane, implying that most faults dip consistently in 1 planar domino style and that faulting oc- curred after deposition of the exposed se- quence, Striae oa the fault planes indicate ‘mainly down-dip extensional faults, An orig- {nal fault dip angle of 607-65" is indicated by the average exposed beddingifault plane MaasFigure 11. Se cut-off angle, which gives an extension fac- tor, , of 16-18, caleulated with the aver- age measured bedding dip of 35°. “Most of the major fault planes are not well exposed, Smaller faults with meters to tens of meters of throw have bedding cut-off angles of ~90°, which suggests they may hhave formed after initial rotation ofthe bed- ding. These faults are commonly marked by sheared dikes, probably indicating that the dikes served ‘as weaknesses subsequently used by faults. Conversely, some dikes i ‘ruded preexisting faults, indicating that at least some of the faulting and dike injection ‘occurred simultaneously. Continuous expo sure of fault blocks up €0 5 km across in ‘ates that most ofthe deformation is taken up on the major faults (>100 m displace ‘ment) rather than being distributed evenly with large numbers of smaller faults. Many authors have suggested that small faults are responsible fora large proportion of the ex: tension in sedimentary basins from obser- vations of faults in synrift sedimentary fill (for example, Selater and Shorey, 1989). (Our observations are restricted to basement and lithifed prerift sediments, suggesting that fault populations may differ between weakly lithified sediments and crystalline 1486, DAVISON AND OTHERS ic reflection profile across Tihama Plain, showing gently dipping postrift un- conformity overlain by middle to late Miocene salt. More steeply dipping reflectors below the un- conformity are probably Tertiary volcanic rocks. Location is shown on Figure 4. basement, wth fewer larger faults observed at basement level The extended upper crust is elevated up to 2000 m above sea level indicating that highly extended (B = 1.7) rift shoulders may be uplifted for several tens of million years aftr rifting has ecased, Thermal contraction and erosion may bring the margin back down tonear sea level, and ts possible that all traces of extension will have been re: ‘moved, so that the margin would appear to be narrower and have undergone much less extension. Fault Patterns ‘The location and strike of the faults are well defined by 1:50 000scale mapping (Figs. 12 and 13), Most of the extensional faults have a northwest-southeast strike, but some north-south-striking and rare east- west-striking faults are also present (Fig. 13) (Huchon and others, 1992). A northeast-southwest extension direction is alo interpreted in Ethiopia in Late Creta- cceous to early Tertiary time (Almond, 1986, 1986p), suggesting a widespread ex tension occurted throughout the southern Red Sea area. Zaydiyah-1 well projected along strike from 35 km N of line Huchon and others (1992) used erosseut- ting relationships of dikes and small-scale faults to suggest that possibly four distinct phases of extension occurred, but erosscut- ting relations of major faults are dificult to ascertain. Is acknowledged that there may have been several localized extension direc- tions, and this is to be expected during most rifting events, However, the main crustal extension in the two arcas studied was pro- duced by major northwest-southeast-sti ing faults, indicating northeast-southwest— directed extension. The faults dip consistently eastward away from the rift axis in the eastern part of the mountain transect (Fig. 12). The faults abruptly change 10 a west dip on the west side of the prominent granitic intrusions of Jabal Hufash and Bura, however, and along the Great Escarpment, which bounds the ‘Tihama Plain (Figs. 4 and 12). The direction of fault dip changes twice along strike on the ‘Tihama Plain, with each accommodation zone coinciding with a granitic intrusion. ‘The aature of the escarpment in the transect area is variable, consisting of a se~ ies of extensional fault terraces (for exam- pile, Jabal Al Dhamir) (Fig. 12) that gradu- ally step down toward the Tihama Plain, or Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 199%GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN ‘upstanding granite intrusions and porphy- ritic acidic lavas that are more resistant than the surrounding rocks and sediments (for ‘example, Jabal Bura, Figs. 4 and 12). Field ‘mapping indicates that individual fault scarps bordering the Tihama Plain in the Bail area have been eroded back from their ‘original postion by no more than 1-2 km. ‘The main contact between the Pr brian basement and the Mesozoic strata trends approximately eastovest, 5-10 km north of Al-Mahvwit, This contact forms an impressive scarp along which a pre-Meso- zoe unconformity crops out that dips 10°S, ‘This unconformity is an erosion surface formed by basement uplift to the north, which dies out eastward of Al Tawilah (Fig. 4). The Cenozoie-age granite plutons terminate against this east-west contact (Eig. 4), It is not clear whether a fundamen- {al structural discontinuity at deeper crustal levels has controlled this east-west flexural trend, but there is no clear surface expres- sion of any structural discontinuity Dike Patterns Abundant mafic and felsic dikes cut all formations, from the Precambrian basement Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 through to the Yemen Voleanie Group. Al- ‘though the surface flows are voluminous, the feeder dikes generally account for <1% ff regional extension, although this may reach as much as 25% (Mob, 1991). Dikes ‘were intruded in equal proportions into the ‘western faulted part of the margin and the ‘generally unfaulted strata and basement of the north and eastern part of the transect. ‘This suggests that the Cenozoic voleanic cover has probably been eroded from the basement rather than never having being deposited. The dikes are most numerous along the 20-30-km-wide escarpment zone bounding the Tihama Plain, suggesting that this was a preferred locus for magmatic jestion (Fig. 14; Mobr, 1991), The majority of dikes throughout western Yemen are oF ented broadly north-northwest-south- southeast to northwest-southeast, indicating ceas-northenst—to northeast-southwest-of tented extension, which is slightly different but broadly compatible with the extensional fault orientations (Fig. 14; Mohr, 1991), Lo- cal dike trends are very variable in compar- ison to the main dike swarms mapped on satellite and aerial photographs (Fig. 1). ‘This variation isto be expected due to lo- calized magmatic intrusions. Regional northeast-east-oriented extension occurred during dike injection, which broadly coin- cides with the direction of motion of the ‘Arabian plate as defined by continental re- ‘constructions and transform fault orienta- tions (Sultan and others, 1992). Farther north in Saudi Arabia, most dikes (22-25- my--old K/Ar ages) are oriented parallel to the Red Sea coast, following the same pat- tern asin northern Yemen (Bohannon and Ettreim, 1991; Coleman and others, 1977) Near Taym and Musaymir, the dikes are predominantly oriented northwestsouth- east to east-west (Moseley, 1969; Fig. 14), and this may be related to Gulf of Aden rifting EXHUMATION HISTORY ‘The amount of uplift during the Cenozoic canbe determined from the present-day ur face elevation of the marine beds in the up- per part of the Tawilah Group, The highest clevations that have been recorded for these sedimentary rocks in the traverse area is 2860 m on Jabal Marmar. Apatite fission- track ages from basement amphibolite in Wadi La’ah, $ km north of Al Mahwit, are interpreted to indicate rapid exhumational 1487DAVISON AND OTHERS ast appa ‘aol Tertin granite Tenlary Tooke Figure 12. (A) Geo- ran logic map of Bail area, am bordering the Tihama not Plain (se Fig. 4 for toca tion). Partly based on Kruck and others (1984), |B) West-southwest— ‘east-northeast section through tilt blocks on the ‘Tihama Plain, Wusteat- ing east-dipping beds and west-dipping, do Precambrian Normal taut Lumnoiogie | mo-style faults (section is ‘conta located in Fig. 124). ‘Asphalt rose Horizontal = Vertical cooling caused by erosional unroofing be- tween the onset of volcanism at 24-29 Ma and 16 = 2 Ma (1 a) (Menzies and others, 1992), Such exhumation postdated the ex: tensive flood volcanism and was probably produced by uplift of the Red Sea flanks. Rifting would have inereased the rugged- ness and elevation ofthe highest peaks, taus enhancing the potential for erosion. Fission-track studies of the Permian to 1488, Jurassic strata (Akbra and Koblan) between Haijah and Kohlan show evidence of total resetting. Resetting indicates thatthe strata reached temperatures >110 °C prior to ex- hhumation. Minimum inferred burial and ex ‘humation depths range between 1 and 4km since 20 + $ Ma, as indicated by the central ages of a number of samples, and assuming 1 geothermal gradient range of 30-100 “Chm. ‘TIMING OF SEDIMENTATION, MAGMATISM, EXTENSION, AND UPLIFT Field and geochronologic data indicate that magmatism preceded crustal extension and uplift. K/Ar data indicate magmatism began ca, 24-29 Ma in the transect area (Civetta and others, 1977; Menzies and oth- rs, 1991), Large extensional faults are not Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 199%GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN RED SEA RIFT MARGIN +] por : Figure 1.4) Goo ist | ole sup ot te aren rons around Al Mahwit (see Tawilon Fig. 4 for location). (B) Novtheust-southwest svn | Section south oA ae wi Tndeatng west joan | Sipping domino tit tack ned by gam ces | lett sated re Fie for cation) roman Location of the Tog though Tala Yemen wwe | Yrene Ovep court Tigre 9 shown weape | ™ one recognized, which were active during depo- sition of the Amran and Tawilah strata and of the Yemen Voleanic Group. extension related to Red Sea rif ing took place soon after deposition of the youngest faultrotated Yemen Volcanic Group (K/Ar ages of 18 Ma), because they are unconformably overlain by lat-ying ate Miocene sedimentary rocks, and flat-lying 10-my-old (K/AT ages) voleanic rocks (Huchon and others, 1992), The crust stretched over an exposed onshore part ~75, km wide by a B factor of ~1.7, which gives an average extension rate of 45 mmiyr over fan 8 my. period. Present-day extension is ‘now probably confined tothe central axis of the Red Sea where thermal weakening has localized the deformation (Buck and others, 1988). Some onshore deformation is con: tinuing at present, however, and historical Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 records indicate that medium-magnitude earthquake swarms are stl common in Yemen (Ambraseys and MeWille, 1983; Platker and others, 1987; Fig. 2). "The last large earthquakes occurred in 1982 in the Dhamararea (Fi. 25M, = 57) when ~1900 people wete killed, and in 1991 at Al Udain (M, = 45), which caused severe damage to property DISCUSSION ‘The distribution of Cenozoic voleanic rocks in the Arabian Peninsula cannot be simply linked toa single vertical plume, be> ceause the onshore magmatic belt bordering the Red Sea isa 300-km-wide zone that ex: tends for 3000 km northward from the Afar ‘tiple junction to the Bitlis suture in Turkey (Fig. 15). The later voleanism (<10 Ma) was probably controlled by convection currents Induced by the continental separation that was not symmetric with respect 10 the present-day Red Sea. spreading. center (Dixon and others, 1989). The Gull of Aden has recently evolved from continental itt to oceanic ditt with the formation of fist oceanic eustea. 10 Ma atthe easter end of the Shcba Ridge and 3-4 Ma west of long 45°E (Cochran, 1981). This is similar in age to the estimated 5-6 ‘my-old oceanic crust formed in the central part of the Red Sea (between lat 15° and 2I°N; Roeser, 1975; zzeldin, 1987 Fig. 15). ‘The Gulf of Aden rifting appears to have propagated from the Carkberg Ridge toward the Afar hot spot (Fig 15). The di rection of propagation of the Red Sea Rift isstill not eleary defined, and several early Separated rift basins have been proposed 1489DAVISON AND OTHERS oPhemen Volcan |\ Major ike trend we ‘Aden 100 km [ASE Figure 14. Dike orientations from our ovn data along the transect. Two rose diagrams south ofthe transect are from Moseley (1969), and major dike trends outside the transect from Mohr (1991), farther north in Saudi Arabia (Brown and others, 1989) and the Gulf of Suez (Makris and Rihm, 1991), The timing of the onset of extension and magmatism appears o be syn- chronous along most of the Red Sea margin (Menzies and others, 1992; and references therein), suggesting that Red Sea Rift prop- agation was relatively rapid, 1490 ‘The field evidence strongly suggests that rifting took place due tothe impingement of ‘plume, because massive volcanism took place before any upper crustal extension, ‘The geochemical evidence (Baker and oth ers, 1993a, 1993b) and seismic tomography interpretations (Zhang and Tanimoto, 1992) also point to a plume source. Sigif- Figure 15. Generalized geologic map of “Middle East showing main Cenozoie volean- le areas, which define linear zones. Note northeast-trending rifts of Late Cretaceous tocarly Tertiary age in Eihiopia and Sudar Elongate nature ofthe Afro-Arabian domal ‘uplift is probably attributed to mantle con- veetion cells associated with Red Sea rifting, as well as the Afar plume. Data from Al- ‘mond (1986a, 1986b), Baldridge and others (1991), Bohannon and others (1989), Camp and Roobol (1989), Hart and others (1989), ‘Mohr and Zanettin (1988), Omar and oth- ers (1987, 1989), and Voggenreiter and ‘Hota (1989). —_—_—_————————_—_> icant weakening of the upper lithosphere probably occurred due to heating and mag- matic intrusion, and regional stresses may have caused Red Sea rifting to propagate from the plume center and form an elongate rif, which propagated out from the weak- ened zone, Consistently oriented regional crustal strains are inferred from fault and dike orientations, and a hot spot alone may not have been enough to generate continen- tal extension, as was the case in the huge Siberian flood basalt province, which has ap- parently no direct ink with crustal extension (Coffin and Eidholm, 1992), “The plume was able to produce significant surface voleanism (~2-3-km-thick voleanic rocks) before any evidence of major exten- sional faulting or uplift occurred. This may be explained if efficient magma transferral, from the melting plume head tothe surface, ‘occurred before the lithosphere was heated sufficiently to cause significant uplift (com- pare with Spohn and Schubert, 1983). This ‘proposal is supported by the elatively small volume of dike injection (<1%% of rock vol- ‘ume above sea level) observed in the prevol- canic section compared to the large thick- ‘ess ofthe voleanic sequence. The timing of the onset of surface uplift and associated tehta Late Cenozoic volcanic provinces <18Ma Phanerozoic Precambrian Zagros Fold Belt SA Transform fauts —~ Extensional rit tend Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1994 1491RED SEA tm oy oP i 2 x 24 thnneD crust 9-26 DAVISON AND OTHERS EASTERN LiMiT OF ROTATED FAULT ‘BLOCKS TRANSITION ZONE 6-18 [ Dike truson se sera fasrTER Tor | VoLeANC ROEES YEMEN PLATEAU sal Horizontal = Vertical Figure 16. East-west schematic crustal seale section from east of § naa to center of the Red Sea. Crustal thickness from Egloff and ‘others (1991) and Makris and others (1991). Offshore structure interpreted from British Petroleum proprietary seismic data, and onshore structure from our own observations, ‘upper erust, where the elastic limit was not reached (Lynch and Morgan, 1990). Magmatism appears to be spatially re lated to higher surface elevation, with most of the area lying above 2000 m’being vol- canie or plutonic (Fig. 2). We attribute the present-day elevation of the Yemen high- lands to a combination of magmatic under- plating extrusion of 2-4 km thickness of vol- ‘canic rocks at the sutface, the buoyancy uplift of the plume, and the high heat flow producing thermal expansion of the litho sphere, High heat flow inthe Al-Auch-1 well cof 110 mWim* has been recorded on the Tihama Plain (Barnard and others, 1992), Gravity and seismic refraction data indicate ‘that crustal thickness is ~35 km below the central Yemen Mountains, which excludes any very large magmatic underplating of crustal density (Fig. 16, Egloff and others, 1991; Makris and others, 1991). It is also worth noting that thick’ (2 km) voleanic rocks crop out up to 180 km east of the ex- tended terrane (Figs. 1 and 16), suggesting that there is no direct spatial link between ‘rustal extension and voleanism in this part of the Red Sea margin. Crustal thinning cal- culated from geophysical data reaches a ‘maximum stretching actor 8 of 24 beneath the Red Sea (Makris and others, 1991; Fig. 16). The position of upper crustal ex- tension, wth major surface faulting, appears to coincide vertically with the total crustal {thinning indicated by the gravity and seismic refraction data, indicating a pure shear pat tern of crustal thinning in this region (ig. 16), CONCLUSIONS (1) Subsidence of ~1 km occurred from Permian times through to the onset of Red 1492 Sea voleanism ca. 30 Ma, The sedimentation rate broadly kept pace with subsidence rate such that the Permian to early Tertiary strata are mainly shallow marine to conti rental. Angular unconformities, or evidence ‘of deformation, were not observed through- ‘out the prevoleanie Mesozoic sedimentary sequence, (2) Voleanism predated important crustal extension, reaching a climax between ca. 30 and 25 Ma. @) The regional extension direction was mainly northeast-southwest, and remained broadly consistent from the onset of rift ‘magmatism to the present day (4) Red Sea rifting produced an 80-120- kkm-wide extended zone across its eastern ‘margin with an extension factor B varying between 1.6 and 1.8, Extension took place in the middle to late Miocene (ca. 18-10 Ma). (3) Surface uplift is atributed to plume heating, and apatite fission-track ages imply a minimum age for exhurational cooing ca. 16-20 Ma contemporaneous with rifting. (6) The classic aetive and passive rifting ‘models clearly do not ft the geologic evi- dence, which is magnificently exposed aloag the Yemen-Red Sea margin. We suggest that an active plume weakened the litho: sphere and allowed rifting to proceed due to regional plate stresses, which would have been otherwise 100 weak to produce cont rental separation (Lynch and Morgan, 1990), ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘We thank the Royal Society for an Over: seas Travel Grant (Bosence and others) ‘Additional support from the British Coun- cil, British Petroleum (BP), and the Indus- trial Association of the Department of Ge- ology at Royal Holloway is acknowledged, [BP exploration and the Yemen Republic Petroleum Exploration Board provided per- mission to use seismic lines across the ‘Tihama Plan. Sana'a University is thanked for its logistical help and transportation. [Baker was supported by a British Common= ‘wealth Scholarship. Blakey holds a Natural Environment Research Council postgradu- ate studentship. MeClay and Dart were sup- ported by the Fault Dynamics Project at Royal Holloway. Fieldwork by Davison and ‘Owen on the Great Escarpment was funded bya European Community Red Sea grant to B. Purser, Université de Pars, with Bosence as United Kingdom Coordinator. Fission- track research is supported by NERC re search grant GR3/S457 (Menzies and Hur- ford), and analyses were carried out at the London Fission Track Research Group laboratories, University College, London. K. AbThour gave permission to use infor- mation from his Ph.D. thesis. T. Dooley and L, Blything are thanked for their help with rafting the diagrams. We also. thank . Morgan, A. Aydin, A. Sylvester, and an anonymous reviewer for their very helpful ‘comments, Sa. 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