The separation of the African and Arabian plates is responsible for the opening of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that meet the East African Rift at the Afar triple junction. Moreover, the strike-slip movement between the African and the Arabian plates is accommodated in the northernmost part of the rift system by the Dead Sea fault and its marine extension in the Gulf of Aqaba. High volcanic and seismic activity in and around the three arms of the divergence highlights some of the key aspects of this opening system.

This complex geodynamic system is currently investigated by multiple geoscientific approaches including e.g., tectonics, volcanology, stratigraphy, geodynamics, geodesy as well as active and passive geophysical methods.

In this session, we welcome contributions that are based on (but not limited to) such methods and investigate the basins of the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Afar depression and their surrounding regions, from the mantle to the crust.