The Red Sea begins to open
Arabia separates from Africa along a new rift that will become an ocean.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 1 million years
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Oligocene, Cenozoic
Extension along the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez becomes vigorous around 23 million years ago, with dike swarms, rapid fault-block exhumation and thick syn-rift sedimentation marking the onset — demonstrably later than the Ethiopian flood basalts that preceded it. The rift eventually reaches seafloor spreading in its southern part, making the Red Sea one of the few places on Earth where an ocean can be watched in the act of being born. Arabia rotates away from Africa and drives north into Eurasia.