الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The Red Sea, being the Mediterranean of the Indian Ocean, has general unique characteristics. It is a long narrow oceanic trough (rift valley) separating Asia from Africa, the depth of which in the central trough reaches approximately 2000 m (Badr and Crossland, 1939; Coleman, 1977 and Schroeder, 1982). It extends for about 1930 Km in a NNW-SSE direction between late 13° 30 and 28° N. The average width of the Red Sea is about 280 Km and reaches its maximum width i.e, 350 Km near Massawaa. In the south, the Red Sea is separated from the Gulf of Aden by a shallow strait, the depth of which does not exceed 100 m. At its north western extremity, the Red Sea bifurcates into the Gulf of Suez extending in the NW direction and the Gulf of Aqaba _extending in a NE direction The bathymetry shows a shallow reef-studded shelves of less than 50 m, followed by narrow shelves of varying depth (100-500 m). A distinct main trough about 1000 m depth, extends from the Zobayr Island to the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. The central. part of this formation is the axial trough which has a maximum width of 30 Km near late 20° N and reaches depth of about 2000 m Fig.LL. |