A Study of the Transition from Continental Rifting to Seafloor Spreading in the Northern Red Sea

在这个奖项中，首席研究员将研究红海北部大陆裂谷向海底扩张的转变。在早先的一项拨款中，PI研究了北红海大陆边缘的早期裂谷作用，并获得了该地区大量的地球物理数据。在这项研究中，PI建议将埃克森公司的地球物理数据和法国同事的ESP数据整合到他现有的数据库中。埃克森美孚现有的数据集相当广泛，包括紧密间隔的多通道地震反射剖面以及重力、磁力和水深数据。法国收集的两艘船ESP数据质量也很好，表明可能来自莫霍。对这一增加的数据集的解释将有助于了解红海北部裂谷区向海底扩张区在空间和时间上的延伸机制以及这种过渡发生的条件。这一研究主题在板块构造学中具有重要的基础意义。该项目获得的构造和构造信息也可以作为岩石圈伸展导致裂陷的热力学模拟的约束条件。

In this award, the principal investigator will study the transition of the continental rifting to seafloor spreading in the Northern Red Sea. In an earlier grant, the PI studied the early rifting of the continental margins of the Northern Red Sea and acquired a large amount of geophysical data in the area. In this study, the PI proposes to integrate underway geophysical data from Exxon and ESP data from his French colleagues to his existing data base. The available Exxon data set is quite extensive, consisting of closely spaced multichannel seismic reflection profiles and gravity, magnetic and bathymetric data. The two ship ESP data collected by the French are also of good quality and indicate possible arrivals from the Moho. The interpretation of this increased data set will lead to the understanding of the mechanism of extension in space and time from the rift region to the sea floor spreading region in the Northern Red Sea and the conditions under which such a transition takes place. The theme of the research is of fundamental importance in plate tectonics. The structural and tectonic information gained from this project can also be used as constraints in thermal and mechanical modeling of the extension of lithosphere which leads to rifting.