Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We analyse P-wave receiver functions across the western Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea continental margins in Western Yemen to constrain crustal thickness, internal crustal structure and the bulk seismic velocity characteristics in order to address the role of magmatism, faulting and mechanical crustal thinning during continental breakup. We analyse teleseismic data from 21 stations forming the temporary Young Conjugate Margins Laboratory (YOCMAL) network together with GFZ and Yemeni permanent stations. Analysis of computed receiver functions shows that (1) the thickness of unextended crust on the Yemen plateau is ∼35km; (2) this thins to ∼22km in coastal areas and reaches less than 14km on the Red Sea coast, where presence of a high-velocity lower crust is evident. The average Vp/Vs ratio for the western Yemen Plateau is 1.79, increasing to ∼1.92 near the Red Sea coast and decreasing to 1.68 for those stations located on or near the granitic rocks. Thinning of the crust, and by inference extension, occurs over a ∼130-km-wide transition zone from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coasts to the edges of the Yemen plateau. Thinning of continental crust is particularly localized in a <30-km-wide zone near the coastline, spatially co-incident with addition of magmatic underplate to the lower crust, above which on the surface we observe the presence of seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs) and thickened Oligo-Miocene syn-rift basaltic flows. Our results strongly suggest the presence of high-velocity mafic intrusions in the lower crust, which are likely either synrift magmatic intrusion into continental lower crust or alternatively depleted upper mantle underplated to the base of the crust during the eruption of the SDRs. Our results also point towards a regional breakup history in which the onset of rifting was synchronous along the western Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea volcanic margins followed by a second phase of extension along the Red Sea margin.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00825194
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825194
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825194/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825194/file/RF_Hakim2012_GJI.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggt072

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
We image the lithospheric and upper asthenospheric structure of western continental Yemen with 24 broadband stations to evaluate the role of the Afar plume on the evolution of the continental margin and its extent eastwards along the Gulf of Aden. We use teleseismic tomography to compute relative P-wave velocity variations in southwestern Yemen down to 300 km depth. Published receiver function analysis suggest a dramatic and localized thinning of the crust in the vicinity of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, consistent with the velocity structure that we retrieve in our model. The mantle part of the model is dominated by the presence of a low velocity anomaly in which we infer partial melting just below thick Oligocene flood basalts and recent off-axis volcanic events (from 15 Ma to present). This low velocity anomaly could correspond to an abnormally hot mantle and could be responsible for dynamic topography and recent magmatism in western Yemen. Our new P-wave velocity model beneath western Yemen suggests the young rift flank volcanoes beneath margins and on the flanks of the Red Sea rift are caused by focused small-scale diapiric upwelling from a broad region of hot mantle beneath the area. Our work shows that relatively hot mantle, along with partial melting of the mantle, can persist beneath rifted margins after breakup has occurred.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-01015496
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01015496/file/Korostelev_etal_GGG_2014.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014GC005316

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The Socotra Island belongs to the southern rifted margin of the Gulf of Aden and occupied in Neoproterozoic times a key position to constrain the age and the nature of the largely hidden Neoproterozoic rocks of the Arabian plate. Our integrated field, petrographic, geochemical and geochrono- logical study in the Neoproterozoic rocks recognises three main successive events: (a) high-temperature ductile defor- mation and metamorphism forming probably in a compressive or transpressive regime; (b) mafic to intermediate intrusions as vertical sheets, kilometre-scale gabbro laccoliths, mafic dike swarm and lavas which present mainly a depleted arc signature with some evidences of evolution from an enriched-arc signature; (c) felsic intrusions mainly composed of highly potassic calc-alkaline and pinkish granites dated between 840 and 780 Ma. Relationships between the various petrographic types and U-Pb data suggest that these events occurred during a relatively short time span (80 Ma at max). Earlier high-temperature-low-pressure metamorphism stage as well as geochemical signature of mafic rocks show that development of Cryogenian formations of Socotra were controlled successively by an Andean-arc and a back-arc setting. These features cannot be easily reconciled with those of the Arabian-Nubian shield to the west of Socotra and of the Mozambique Belt to the south. We propose that the Socotra basement was developed at an active margin close to the India block in Cryogenian times.
Arabian Journal of Geoscience

hal-00647487
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00647487
DOI : 10.1007/s12517-011-0476-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Continental rifts and passive continental margins show fundamental along-axis segmentation patterns that have been attributed to one or a number of different processes: extensional fault geometry, variable stretching along strike, preexisting lithospheric compositional and structural heterogeneities, oblique rifting, and the presence or absence of eruptive volcanic centers. The length and width scales of the rift stage fault-bounded basin systems change during the late evolution of the new plate boundary, and the role of magmatism may increase as rifting progresses to continental rupture. Along obliquely spreading ridges, first-order mid-ocean ridge geometries originate during the synrift stage, indicating an intimate relationship between magma production and transform fault spacing and location. The Gulf of Aden rift is a young ocean basin in which the earliest synrift to breakup structures are well exposed onshore and covered by thin sediment layers offshore. This obliquely spreading rift is considered magma-poor and has several large-offset transforms that originated during late stage rifting and control the first-order axial segmentation of the spreading ridge. Widely spaced geophysical transects of passive margins that produce only isolated 2-D images of crust and uppermost mantle structure are inadequate for evaluation of competing rift evolution models. Using closely spaced new geophysical and geological observations from the Gulf of Aden we show that rift sectors between transforms have a large internal variability over short distances (∼10 km): the ocean-continent transition (OCT) evolves from a narrow magmatic transition to wider zones where continental mantle is probably exhumed. We suggest that this small-scale variability may be explained (1) by the distribution of volcanism and (2) by the along-strike differences in time-averaged extension rate of the oblique rift system. The volcanism may be associated with (1) the long-offset Alula-Fartak Fracture Zone, which may enhance magma production on its younger side, or (2) channeled flow from the Afar plume material along the newly formed OCT and the spreading ridge. Oblique extension and/or hot spot interactions may thereby have a significant control on the styles of rifting and continental breakup and on the evolution of many magma-poor margins.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00504866
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00504866
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00504866/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00504866/file/G3-Leroy_al-2010.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2009GC002963