Nature Communications (Apr 2021)

13 million years of seafloor spreading throughout the Red Sea Basin

  • Nico Augustin,
  • Froukje M. van der Zwan,
  • Colin W. Devey,
  • Bryndís Brandsdóttir

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22586-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Here, based on earthquake data, vertical gravity gradient data and high-resolution bathymetry, the authors show that the Red Sea is not in transition from rifting to spreading as previously proposed. They instead suggest it to be a mature ocean basin in which continuous seafloor spreading began quasi-instantaneously along its entire length around 13 Ma ago.