Abstract
Transition from a continental to an oceanic rift occurs in the Red Sea by initial emplacement of oceanic crust in regularly spaced ‘hot points’, which serve as nuclei for axial propagation into segments of oceanic crust accretion and for initiation of seafloor spreading. Hot points develop above upwelling mantle diapirs caused by density / viscosity inversion beneath continental and oceanic rifts.
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Bonatti, E. Punctiform initiation of seafloor spreading in the Red Sea during transition from a continental to an oceanic rift. Nature 316, 33–37 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316033a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316033a0
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