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Official Journal of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS)

Fig. 2 | Geoscience Letters

Fig. 2

From: The Makkah–Madinah Transform Zone: a relic rift-to-rift continental transform formed during early Arabia–Nubia plate separation

Fig. 2

Simplified tectonic maps of the plate boundary between Arabia and Nubia at ~ 30–28, ~ 27–25, and ~ 25–20 Ma. a At ~ 30–28 Ma, the plate boundary is delineated mainly by the distribution of pre-rift volcanic eruptions, particularly along the SRS and Sirhan rifts. The motion of Arabia with respect to Nubia is transferred from the SRS to the Sirhan rift through a transform zone (MMTZ). The southern segment of the MMTZ as denoted in the figure is later occupied by intensive volcanic eruptions. The northern segment of the MMTZ has no observed volcanic or structural expression. b At ~ 27–25 Ma, the MMTZ is still active in conjugate with diffuse extensional processes bounded spatially with the Nile River to the west, Sirhan rift to the east and the MMTZ to the south. This conjunction between SRS, NRS and MMTZ form the central Red Sea triple junction. This figure shows the volcanic activities distribution along the SRS, the Sirhan rift, and in the vicinity of the Nile River. The future central Red Sea transforms and curvature region is highlighted in green box as they correlate spatially with the MMN volcanics region. c At ~ 25–20 Ma, the effect of dike intrusions on the NRS rifting localization is illustrated, potentially causing the failure of cessation of the MMTZ and central Red Sea triple junction. The map also shows how the volcanic activities decreased significantly in the Red Sea region. The present-day central Red Sea region is highlighted in green box

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