Inverse models of gravity data from the Red Sea–Aden–East African rifts triple junction zone

SUMMARY The combined effects of stretching and magmatism permanently modify crustal structure in continental rifts and volcanic passive margins. The Red Sea–Gulf of Aden–Ethiopian rift triple junction zone provides a unique opportunity to examine incipient volcanic margin formation above or near an asthenospheric upwelling. We use gravity inversions and forward modelling to examine lateral variations in crust and upper mantle structure across the Oligocene flood basalt province, which has subsequently been extended to form the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Main Ethiopian rifts. We constrain and test the obtained models with new and existing seismic estimates of crustal thickness. In particular, we predict crustal thickness across the uplifted plateaux and rift valleys, and calibrate our results with recent receiver function analyses. We discuss the results together with a 3‐D distribution of density contrasts in terms of magmatic margin structure. The main conclusions are: (1) a denser (+240 kg m −3 ) and/or a thinner crust (23 km) in the triple junction zone of the Afar depression; (2) a shallower Moho is found along the Main Ethiopian rift axis, with crustal thickness values decreasing from 32–33 km in the south to 24 km beneath the southern Afar depression; (3) thicker crust (∼40 km) is present beneath the broad uplifted Oligocene flood basalt province, suggesting that crustal underplating compensates most of the plateau uplift and (4) possible magmatic underplating or a segmentation in the rift structure is observed at ∼8°N, 39°W beneath several collapsed caldera complexes. These results indicate that magmatism has profoundly changed crustal structure throughout the flood basalt province.