Sea Floor Spreading Of The Red Sea

Eventually geologist s predict seafloor spreading will completely separate the two continent s and join the red and mediterranean seas.

Sea floor spreading of the red sea.

Sea floor spreading in the gulf of aden begun about 16ma and about 4ma in the red sea e g. As oceanic crust moves away from the shallow mid ocean ridges it cools and sinks as it becomes more dense. The red sea runs roughly straight for 2000km northwards to where it joins the aqaba dead sea transform rift system. The red sea rift is a divergent boundary between the arabian and african plates.

It has several volcanoes and a few of them are active. In the general case seafloor spreading starts as a rift in a continental land mass similar to the red sea east africa rift system today. The rift transitioned from a continental rift to an oceanic rift. Red sea tectonic models based on geological data are dominated by single stage rift models involving protracted stretching of continental crust followed by sea floor spreading at ca 5 ma and.

However t he red sea is a sea surrounded by people who use it often. The process starts by heating at the base of the continental crust which causes it to become more plastic and less dense. Baker et al 1996. It is a rift that is causing sea floor spreading and the expansion of the red sea.

Mid ocean ridges and seafloor spreading can also influence sea level s. The red sea rift is a spreading center between two tectonic plates the african plate and the arabian plate. It extends from the dead sea transform fault system and ends at an intersection with the aden ridge and the east african rift forming the afar triple junction in the afar depression of the horn of africa.