Tectono-Thermal Evolution of the Red Sea Rift

Abstract

The Oligocene-Recent Red Sea rift is one of the preeminent examples of lithospheric rupture in the recent geological past, forming the basis for many models of how continental breakup occurs and progresses to the formation of new oceanic crust. Utilisation of low-temperature thermochronology in the Red Sea Rift since the 1980s has been key to constraining its spatio-temporal evolution, providing constraints for the propagation of strain and geomorphological development of its margins where datable syn-tectonic strata and/or markers are absent. We review the wealth of published apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He data from along the Red Sea, affording insights into the Oligocene-Recent the..