ABSTRACT
Jebel Dirurba sedimentary complex is the largest of several sedimentary outcrops situated in the Red Sea Hills about 150 km northwest from Port Sudan. It consists of Paleozoic sediments and rests unconformably on Upper Proterozoic basement, which is intruded by anorogenic volcanic and plutonic rocks. The sediments were first recorded by Kabesh and assigned to the Jurassic-Cretaceous so called "Nubian Sandstone Formation". This chapter investigates the uplift history of the area with respect to the Red Sea Rift evolution by means of kinematic analysis, radiometric age determination and fission track dating. One of the main tectonic processes at Jebel Dirurba was a phase of uplift related to the intrusion of two alkaline complexes. The age of these complexes is not yet known but they are likely of Lower Cretaceous age. This assumption is based on analogy to very similar alkaline ring complexes about 30 km further south, which are described by Vail and dated as Lower Cretaceous in age.
