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Geochemical evolution of southern Red Sea and Yemen flood volcanism: evidence for mantle heterogeneity

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Abstract

The Red Sea is part of the Afro-Arabian rift system, the world’s largest active continental rift system. The early opening phases of the Red Sea Rift were accompanied by continental flood magmatism. Large volumes of flood basalts emplaced in the Oligocene through to the present time at discrete eruptive centres along the western margin of the Arabian plate. Some of these rocks, in Southern Yemen, were investigated by geochemistry and K/Ar whole rock (WR) geochronology. In addition, the Jabal At-Tair (JAT) volcano, in the Red Sea trough, was investigated by geochemistry, with particular concern to the lavas of the last eruption of September 2007. The magmatism of Yemen is divided in: Oligocene–Early Miocene trap series (YOM), Tertiary intrusive rocks, and Late Miocene–recent volcanic series (YMR). YOM and Tertiary intrusions yielded K/Ar WR ages mostly in the range 31.6–16.6 Ma. Three older ages of 34.6, 35.4 and 49.0 Ma, if confirmed by further investigation, could suggest an Eocenic pre-trap phase of magmatic activity. YMR samples yielded K/Ar WR ages between 2.52 and 8.14 Ma. Both YOM and YMR basalts are alkaline, but YMR tend to be richer in alkalis than YOM. JAT basalts have subalkaline tholeiitic character, are geochemically homogeneous, and in the hygromagmaphile element spidergrams display increasing normalised concentrations from Cs to Ta, then decreasing up to Lu, with negative spikes of Nb, K and Pb. YOM have patterns almost identical to those of JAT, whereas YMR have higher normalized concentrations of all trace elements, but REE. The geochemical characteristics of JAT, YOM and YMR, framed in the broader context of the Red Sea Rift, are mostly consistent with a model of continental uplift and magmatism occurring across a linear, north–south axis of mantle upwelling, which intersects the Red Sea axis at the initiation site of axial seafloor spreading. The symmetrical propagation of the rift system to opposite sides of the N–S lineament, along the Red Sea axis, resulted in the observed symmetrical distribution of geochemical signatures of the Red Sea basalts and Yemen continental magmas.

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Acknowledgments

We are deeply indebted to Angelo Peccerillo and to an anonymous referee for their constructive criticism and useful suggestions. Particular thanks are due to Gyorgy Buda, University of Budapest, Hungary, for providing all the possibilities to make this work successful. We also acknowledge Professors of the University of Idaho, USA, for their continuous help and cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Board, Ministry of Oil and Minerals, Sana, Yemen

    M. A. Mattash

  2. CNR, Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources—Section of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121, Florence, Italy

    L. Pinarelli, O. Vaselli, A. Minissale & F. Tassi

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121, Florence, Italy

    O. Vaselli & F. Tassi

  4. Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico City, DF, 04510, Mexico

    M. C. Jaimes-Viera

  5. Department of Geology, Sana’a University, Sana’a, Yemen

    M. Al-Kadasi

  6. Department of Geology, Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen

    M. N. Shawki

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Correspondence to L. Pinarelli.

Appendix 1. Analytical techniques

Appendix 1. Analytical techniques

K/Ar whole rock dating

K/Ar dating was made on whole rock samples, using the methodology applied by the Institute of Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Debrecen, Hungary (cf. Balogh 1985; Birkenmajer and Pécskay 2002; Birkenmajer et al. 2004).

Approximately 0.05 g of finely ground sample was digested in acids and finally dissolved in 0.2 M HCl. Potassium was determined by flame photometry with a Na buffer, and Li international standard. The inter-laboratory standards Asia 1/65, LP-6, HD-B1 and GL-O were used for checking the measurements.

Argon was extracted from the samples by RF fusion in Mo crucibles in a previously backed stainless steel vacuum system. The 38Ar spike was added from gas pipette system, and the evolved gases were cleaned using Ti and SAES getters and liquid nitrogen traps, respectively. The purified Ar was then transported directly into the mass spectrometer, and Ar isotope ratio was measured in the static mode, using a 15-cm-radius magnetic sector-type mass spectrometer built in Debrecen. Atomic constants suggested by Steiger and Jäger (1977) were used for calculating the ages. All analytical errors represent one standard deviation, i.e., 68 % of analytical confidence level.

Major and trace elements whole rock analysis

Major oxides of YVG (Table 2) were analysed by traditional wet chemical methods as well as by XRF at the Hungarian Geological Survey and at the Geochemistry Department of the Eotvos Lorand University (Budapest), whereas trace elements (Table 3) were analysed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis at the University of Budapest.

Major and trace elements of JAT (Table 4) were analysed at Acme Analytical Laboratories (Vancouver). Total abundances of the major oxides and of Ba, Co, Cs, Ga Hf, Nb, Rb, Sr, Ta, Th, U, V, Zr, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu were determined on a 0.2 g sample analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) following a Lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion and dilute nitric digestion. Loss on ignition (LOI) is by weight difference after ignition at 1,000 °C. For determination of Mo, Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni, sample splits of 0.5 g were leached in hot (95 °C) Aqua Regia. The measurements were done using an Elan-9000 ICP-MS instrument.

For analytical quality control, the international rock standards SO-18, DS7, and OREAS-45PA and procedural blanks were prepared and analysed along with the sample series.

For further details, see http://acmelab.com.

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Mattash, M.A., Pinarelli, L., Vaselli, O. et al. Geochemical evolution of southern Red Sea and Yemen flood volcanism: evidence for mantle heterogeneity. Arab J Geosci 7, 4831–4850 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-1120-1

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