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Science 24 November 1995:
Vol. 270. no. 5240, pp. 1341 - 1344
DOI: 10.1126/science.270.5240.1341
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Reports

Fission Track Evidence on the Initial Rifting of the Red Sea: Two Pulses, No Propagation

Gomaa I. Omar and Michael S. Steckler

Fission track analyses indicate that the Red Sea initially opened simultaneously along its entire length. Two distinct pulses of uplift and erosion characterized the early stages of rifting in the Red Sea throughout Egypt and in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The first pulse began at 34 million years ago (Ma). The second pulse began in the early Miocene (21 to 25 Ma) and marked the start of the main phase of extension. These data support a rigid plate model for continental extension. These results also indicate that the initiation of rift flank uplift, and therefore rifting, and volcanism occurred nearly simultaneously. This conflicts with classical models of active and passive extension that predict sequential development of these features.


G. I. Omar, Geology Department, University of Pennsylvania, 240 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
M. S. Steckler, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.


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