Red Sea

Article By:

Cochran, James R. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York.

Last reviewed:December 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.576200

A body of water that separates northeastern Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. The Red Sea forms part of the African Rift System, which also includes the Gulf of Aden and a complex series of continental rifts in East Africa extending as far south as Malawi. The Red Sea extends for 1920 km (1190 mi) from Ras (Cape) Muhammed at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula to the Straits of Bab el Mandab at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. At Sinai the Red Sea splits into the Gulf of Suez, which extends for an additional 300 km (180 mi) along the northwest trend of the Red Sea and the nearly northward-trending Gulf of Aqaba. The 175-km-long (109-mi) Gulf of Aqaba forms the southern end of the Levant transform, a primarily strike-slip fault system extending north into southern Turkey. The Levant transform also includes the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee and forms the northwestern boundary of the Arabian plate. See also: Escarpment; Fault and fault structures

The content above is only an excerpt.