Global and Regional Geodynamic Context

Abstract

For long, and at least since maps became available in this area, observers were striked by the parallelism of the coasts of Africa and Arabia on both sides of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. But while trying to fit the coast-lines, Afar quickly appeared as raising a problem, unless considered as part of the Red sea. Further studies allowed to better understand this apparent anomaly, and explained how the process of continental drift, initiated since Miocene, allowed for the present plate boundaries. It was shown that oceanic spreading occurs in the African continent through Afar where the link between the active Red Sea and the Aden rifts is ensured. This link initiated 8 My ago and became affective 4 My ago. If the Danakil Block which separates Northern Afar from the Red Sea rotates, the Sourthern extremity of the Red Sea and south-eastern Afar (i.e. the area located South of Hanish Island and North of Gulf of Tadjourah) acts as an accretion of the Arabic plate since the last 8 My.