Geologic Background of the Red Sea

Abstract

New concepts related to the mobility of the earth's crust have focused attention on the Red Sea area. The geographic outline of western Arabia and northeast Africa shows the apparent jigsaw fit that appears possible in closing the Red Sea. Indeed, the modern paradigm of plate tectonics would have the Arabian Peninsula drifting away from the African continent. The early formation of the Red Sea is somewhat obscure and is not clearly a result of sea-floor spreading. This is an attempt to summarize much of the recent geologic and geophysical data to form a basis for further speculation on the actual formation of this most-interesting small ocean basin.