Crustal thickness of Egypt determined by gravity data

The major tectonic boundaries of the Northern Red Sea rift, Egypt derived from geophysical data analysis

“…Their estimated crustal depths along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba coastal regions are consistent and well correlated with the previous Moho depth that was inferred from the gravity data analysis (e.g. Dorre et al, 1997 andSaleh et al, 2006); see the correlations in Figs. 10a, b, c. Near the Red Sea, the crust is continental, consisting of a sedimentary layer of 3 km with velocity of 3.5 km/s, overlying a 30 km thickness of crust with moderate velocity changes from 6.0 to 6.35 km/s (Meshref, 1990).…”

“…10a, 10b and 10c), which clearly reveals northward and eastward trends of the crustal thinning toward the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, respectively. This was also observed by Makris et al (1988), Marzouk (1988, Dorre et al (1997), andSeber et al (2000) who describe the Egyptian territory as a continental crust with a thickness of 30-34 km, bounded by thin new oceanic crust (< 20 km) that is formed by the Red Sea rifting.…”

“…The seismicity of this trend is probably related to the active spreading zone associated with the opening of the Red Sea (Korrat et al, 2006). Previous crustal structural results (Dorre et al, 1997;Saleh et al, 2006) evaluated the extreme oceanic crustal structures which are flooring the axial trough of the northern Red Sea rift and 30-38 km thick continental crust underneath the Dead Sea rift.…”

“…Several studies have been carried out to evaluate the crustal structure in the northern Red Sea, Egypt and Arabian Shield by using data observed from Brought to you by | MIT Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 5/9/18 1:43 PM seismic explosions, deep seismic sounding, shallow refractions, and gravity (e.g., Drake and Girdler, 1964;Tramontini and Davies, 1969;Makris et al, 1988Makris et al, , 1991Gaulier et al, 1988;Dorre et al, 1997;Al-Damegh et al, 2005). Dorre et al (1997), Saleh et al (2006) and Saleh et al (2013) constructed a crustal thickness map of Egypt, the Red Sea and south-eastern Mediterranean regions using gravity modelling studies.…”

“…Dorre et al (1997), Saleh et al (2006) and Saleh et al (2013) constructed a crustal thickness map of Egypt, the Red Sea and south-eastern Mediterranean regions using gravity modelling studies. Their results using gravity modelling allowed the construction of a map showing the depth variation of the interface between the upper mantle and the lower crust (Moho depth map).…”