Is the Suez Rift in its post-rift phase?

Is the Suez Rift in its post-rift phase?

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Authors

David Fernández-Blanco , Gino de Gelder , Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson 

Abstract

Failed rifts are widely assumed to enter post-rift quiescence after termination of intracontinental rifting, but comprehensive, regional evaluations of their tectonic (in)activity are rare. Our quantitative, rift-scale geomorphic analyses in the Suez Rift, an archetypal failed rift in Egypt, reveals widespread rifting after presumed rift “failure”. Stacked topographic swaths document normal fault offsets in Plio-Quaternary rocks along the entire rift length, where fluvial metrics show steep gradients consistent with active faulting. Quaternary shorelines uplifted along both margins constrain footwall uplift rates of up to 0.13±0.04 mm/yr in normal faults with estimated down-dip heights of 10-15 km and inferred activity by 3.12±0.23 and 4.44±0.2 Ma. Pleistocene- Recent extension rates of 0.26-0.55 mm/yr are lower than rates in preceding rift phases, albeit compatible with those of modestly active intracontinental rifts (e.g., Basin and Range). Our evidence of active extension after rift “abandonment” supports continued but decelerated rifting, not failure, in the Suez Rift.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X59142

Subjects

Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure

Keywords

intracontinental rift, Post-rift, active faulting, geomorphology, extensional tectonics, Rift models

Dates

Published: 2025-01-03 22:49

Last Updated: 2025-09-01 06:26

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License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International