A three-dimensional Moho depth model beneath the Yemeni highlands and rifted volcanic margins of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Southwest Arabia

Abstract

Knowing Moho discontinuity undulation is fundamental to understanding mechanisms of lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction, extensional tectonism and crustal deformation in volcanic passive margins such as the study area, which is located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula bounded by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In this work, a 3D Moho depth model of the study area is constructed for the first time by inverting gravity data from the Earth Gravitational Model (EGM2008) using the Parker-Oldenburg algorithm. This model indicates the shallow zone is situated at depths of 20 km to 24 km beneath coastal plains, whereas the deep zone is located below the plateau at depths of 30 km to 35 km and its deepest part coincides mainly with the Dhamar-Rada’a Quaternary volcanic field. The results also indicate two channels of hot magmatic materials joining both the Sana’a-Amran Quaternary volcanic field and the Late Miocene Jabal An Nar volcanic area with the Dhamar-Rada’a volcanic field. This conclusion is supported by the widespread geothermal activity (of mantle origin) distributed along these channels, isotopic data, and the upper mantle low velocity zones indicated by earlier studies.

Keywords

Bouguer gravity anomaly / Earth gravitational model (EGM2008) / Moho discontinuity / Mantle upwelling / Lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction / Volcanic passive margin / Isostasy / Gulf of Aden / Red Sea / Arabian Peninsula

Declaration of competing interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

Deep thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve this manuscript, as well as for future work. The author is greatly thankful for the help of the China Geology editors in processing this manuscript and producing it in this form. The gravity data used in this study was obtained from the EGM2008 provided by the International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM), special thanks to this organization.

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