GEOPHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS OFFSHORE SAUDI-ARABIA - SEISMIC AND MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS

Densely spaced seismic and magnetic profiles offshore Saudi Arabia (north of 24-degrees-N) provided new information on the crustal structure of the northern Red Sea. The data were compiled into: (a) detailed structural maps covering the northern and central Red Sea and showing sediment sequences to depths of more than 5000 m, and (b) detailed bathymetric maps showing deeps and brine pools and including previously unobserved topographic features, massive salt structures and sedimentary basins. The data revealed that in addition to the NNW trend representing the general Red Sea orientation, other structural trends have strongly influenced the crustal development within the trough: NNE trends of Aqaba orientation now control the break-up of the continental crust, while old E-W trends are mostly continuous across the basin and define older, pre-Red Sea zones of weakness. The structural information together with magnetic and geothermal data indicate that crustal fragmentation is occurring through stretching at a slow rate (below 1 cm/yr) in disorganized, en-echelon distributed centres and through normal faulting.