Paleostress analysis of the volcanic margins of Yemen

Khaled Khanbari (1) , Philippe Huchon (2)

1 Yemen Remote Sensing Center and Department of Earth and Environmental Science
2 iSTeP - Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris

The western part of Yemen is largely covered by Tertiary volcanics and is bounded by volcanic margins to the west (Red Sea) and the south (Gulf of Aden). The oligo-miocene evolution of Yemen results from the interaction between the emplacement of the Afar plume, the opening of the Red Sea and the westward propagation of the Gulf of Aden. Structural and microtectonic analyses of fault slip data collected in the field reveal that the volcanic margins of Yemen are affected by three main extensional tectonic events. The chronological order of these events is as follows: first E-W extension was associated with the emplacement of volcanic traps of Yemen, then NE-SW extension was related to the Red Sea rifting and finally the volcanic margin was submitted to N160°E extension, perpendicular to the overall trend of the Gulf of Aden, that we interpret as induced by the westward propagation of the oceanic ridge of the Gulf of Aden.

Mots clés: Continental extension; Volcanic margin; Red Sea; Gulf of Aden; Afar plume

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre

Khaled Khanbari, Philippe Huchon. Paleostress analysis of the volcanic margins of Yemen. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2010, 3, pp.529-538. ⟨10.1007/s12517-010-0164-8⟩. ⟨hal-00574208⟩