<P> The Red Sea Rift was formed by the divergence between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate . The rift transitioned from a continental rift to an oceanic rift . Magnetic anomalies suggest that the spreading rate on either side of the Red Sea is about 1 cm / year . The African plate has a rotation rate of 0.9270 degrees / Ma, while the Arabian plate has a rotation rate of 1.1616 degrees / Ma . </P> <P> A two - stage spreading model explains the tectonic evolution in this region . The first major rift motion was seen in the lower / middle Eocene, followed by major seafloor spreading in the late Eocene and early Oligocene . This was followed by a period of 30 Ma of no motion, during which a large amount of evaporites were deposited . After this quiet period of deposition, a new period of activity started about five million years ago . This new phase of spreading caused considerable disturbance to the sediments that were deposited, which created an unstable situation as the crust and sediments parted and the axial trough evolved . Normal faulting along the rift valley during earthquakes shows that the extensional motion is continuing . </P> <P> A three - step process has been proposed for the mechanism of rifting . </P> <P> First a thermal anomaly developed in the mantle in the earliest stages of rifting, causing the rise of the asthenosphere, and the thinning of the subcrustal continental lithosphere . There have been several mechanisms proposed to achieve this, such as convective thermal thinning . </P>

The red sea is believed to be the site of a recently formed convergent plate boundary