 It is important to note that along these rifts, magmatic activity never stopped, as shown by the ongoing eruption of lava along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.The Newark Basin is one in a series of these failed rifts.It is a half-graben filled over time by characteristic red bed sediments, sediments eroded from the uplifted footwalls of the border faults that were deposited within the basin; they are red due to their abundance in oxidized iron oxide minerals.