Rift-related active fault-system and a direction of maximum horizontal stress in the Cairo-Suez district, northeastern Egypt: A new approach from EMR-Technique and Cerescope data

•The EMR-Technique using Cerescope is applied here for the first time to the study area.•An active fault system was detected following the old rift-related trends indicating an ongoing activity.•The detected active faults and the direction of maximum horizontal stress are corresponding with the active trends estimated in many seismic studies on northern Egypt.•The maximum horizontal stress directions were used for a new stress map for the study area.•This study will add new data to the WSM (World Stress Map) of Heidbach et al. (2008).

An active fault system has been detected along the Cairo-Suez district in northeastern Egypt, applying the EMR-Technique using Cerescope. The E-W (old Mediterranean) and NW-SE (Red Sea-Gulf of Suez) fault-trends are estimated to have ongoing activity. Horizontal EMR-measurements indicate a NW to NNW orientation as a maximum horizontal stress direction (σ1), whereas an E-W orientation to has a secondary tendency. A simplified stress map for the Cairo-Suez district is constructed from the horizontal stress data measured at about 20 locations within the district. The mapped stresses will contribute to the stress data of the Cairo-Suez region on the world stress map (WSM). The present study results indicate rejuvenation of the inherited Mesozoic E-W oriented and Oligocene-Miocene rift-related NW-SE oriented faults. The transfer of rift-related deformation from Red Sea-Gulf of Suez region, which is currently undergoing an extensional stress regime in NE to NNE direction, would explain a seismotectonic activity of the Cairo-Suez district. These results are consistent with a present day NNW oriented compressional stresses attributed to a convergence between the African and Eurasian plates.