Nature of the crust under Afar: new igneous, not thinned continental

Thinned continental crust is considered absent from beneath Afar, except for isolated remnants such as comprise the Danakil Block. The Ethiopian Plateau sialic crust thins abruptly across the plateau-Afar margin to abut new igneous crust under Afar, generated during the early development of the Red Sea basin. Analyses of stretching and sea-floor spreading amounts elsewhere in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden basins are employed to support this concept. The dual layering of the Afar crust, and the similarity of P-wave velocities in these layers to velocities in sialic crust, lead to the proposal that new continental crust can be generated at magmatic rift zones.