Branching out like a funnel to the north is the Arabian plate.
The crack forming is thought to be part of the process in which the Arabian Plate and African plates are moving apart.
Its greater variety in the Arabian Plate suggests R0a originated in and spread from there.
On the leading edge of the Arabian plate, the Musandam Peninsula is sinking.
It is compressed between the Arabian Plate to the south and the Eurasian Plate to the north.
This earthquake occurred as a result of normal faulting within the lithosphere of the subducted Arabian Plate.
Iran is a seismically active zone, lying between the converging Eurasian and Arabian Plates.
Oman, located at the southeast corner of the Arabian plate, is being pushed slowly northward, as the Red Sea grows wider.
Today, the Arabian plate is experiencing a crustal down pull, or slab pull, that has separated from the African plate.
The Arabian plate is slowly pushing under the Eurasian plate, creating the earthquake-prone mountains of Iran.