The timing of magmatism, uplift and crustal extension: preliminary observations from Yemen

Abstract

Abstract The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden form young, oceanic rift basins, situated between the diverging African and Arabian plates and bordered by highly elevated, volcanic margins. Yemen in the southeastern Red Sea, was once centred over the Afar plume/triple-junction ( c. 30 Ma) forming part of the Arabian ‘passive’ margin. The present high elevation of the Afro-Arabian rift-flanks (up to 3.6 km as in Yemen), is the combined result of a number of endogenic rift processes which served to generate both the initial crustal uplift and also preserve the elevated topography. A further isostatic response generating uplift is likely to have been driven by differential erosion of the rift-flanks. However, the sedimentary record of the pre-Jurassic to early Tertiary period provides little evidence for major changes in relief or elevation. Furthermore, structural and volcanological observations indicate that most of the crustal extension occurred during mid-late Tertiary. The voluminous Oligo-Miocene basalt-rhyolite magmatism of Yemen was not apparently associated with pre-volcanic (> 30 Ma) uplift despite the commonly held belief that the Afar plume existed beneath the region 30 Ma ago. Geological data point to an episode of uplift that occurred after the initiation of magmatism. Fission track data indicate that uplift related exhumation postdates magmatism by some 10–15 Ma, perhaps the amount of time needed to change the thermal character of the Pan-African lithosphere above the Afar plume. A sequence of magmatism followed by synchronous crustal extension and uplift for Yemen does not fit with the traditional categories of active (uplift-magmatism-rifting) and passive (rifting-uplift-magmatism) rifting. Clearly such end-member models do not simply apply to the Red Sea or the Great Basin of the western USA where a period of tectonic quiescence, followed by post-volcanic extension and uplift (1 km), post-dated the Oligo-Miocene ignimbrite flare-up.