A geophysical survey in the eastern Gulf of Aden, between the Alula–Fartak (52°E) and the Socotra (55°E) transform faults, was carried out during the Encens–Sheba cruise. The conjugate margins of the Gulf are steep, narrow and asymmetric. Asymmetry of the rifting process is highlighted by the conjugate margins (horst and graben in the north and deep basin in the south). Two transfer fault zones separate the margins into three segments, whereas the present‐day Sheba Ridge is divided into two segments by a transform discontinuity. Therefore segmentation of the Sheba Ridge and that of the conjugate margins did coincide during the early stages of oceanic spreading. Extensive magma production is evidenced in the central part of the western segment. Anomaly 5d was identified in the northern and southern parts of the oceanic basin, thus confirming that seafloor spreading in this part of Gulf of Aden started at least 17.6 Ma ago.

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Magnetic anomaly identifications underpin plate tectonic reconstructions and form the primary data set from which the age of the oceanic lithosphere and seafloor spreading regimes in the ocean basins can be determined. Although these identifications are an invaluable resource, their usefulness to the wider scientific community has been limited due to the lack of a central community infrastructure to organize, host, and update these interpretations. We have developed an open-source, community-driven online infrastructure as a repository for quality-checked magnetic anomaly identifications from all ocean basins. We provide a global sample data set that comprises 96,733 individually picked magnetic anomaly identifications organized by ocean basin and publication reference, and provide accompanying Hellingerformat files, where available. Our infrastructure is designed to facilitate research in plate tectonic reconstructions or research that relies on an assessment of plate reconstructions, for both experts and nonexperts alike. To further enhance the existing repository and strengthen its value, we encourage others in the community to contribute to this effort.

[1] We use more than 230,000 km of Russian marine magnetic and bathymetric data from the Carlsberg and northern Central Indian ridges, comprising one of the most geographically extensive, dense shipboard surveys anywhere in the ocean basins, to describe in detail seafloor spreading since 20 Ma along the trailing edge of the Indian plate. India-Somalia plate rotations for $1 Myr intervals over the past 20 Myr are derived from inversions of more than 6600 crossings of 20 magnetic reversals and $1400 crossings of fracture zones that offset these two ridges. Statistical analysis of the numerous data indicates that outward displacement of reversal boundaries due to finite seafloor emplacement widths and correlated noise for anomaly crossings from individual spreading segments constitute two distinct sources of systematic bias in the locations of magnetic anomaly crossings, contrary to the often-made assumption that random, Gaussian-distributed noise dominates the error budget. Seafloor spreading rates slowed gradually by 30% from 20 Ma to 10 ± 1 Ma about a relatively stationary pole of rotation. From 11 Ma to 9 Ma the rotation axis migrated several angular degrees toward the plate boundary, modestly increasing the spreading gradient along the plate boundary. India-Somalia kinematic data for times since $9 Ma are consistent with remarkably steady motion, with no evidence for a change in either the rotation pole or rate of angular opening within the few percent precision of our data. The timing and nature of changes in India-Somalia motion since 20 Ma closely resemble those for the Capricorn-Somalia plate pair, indicating that India and Capricorn plate motions are strongly coupled. We speculate that the slowdown in seafloor spreading at the trailing edges of the Indo-Capricorn composite plate from 20 Ma to 10 ± 1 Ma resulted from the increasing amount of work that was needed to build topography in the Himalayan collisional zone. The transition to stable India-Somalia and Capricorn-Somalia seafloor spreading at $10-9 Ma corresponds well with the onset at 8 Ma of folding and faulting across an equatorial plate boundary separating the Indian and Capricorn plates, suggesting that the latter may have played a fundamental role in restoring equilibrium between the torques that were driving and resisting the northward motions of the Indian and Capricorn plates.