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Tectonic Development of the Northern Tanzanian Sector of the East African Rift System

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dc.creator Foster, A.
dc.creator Ebinger, C.
dc.creator Mbede, Evelyne I.
dc.creator Rex, D.
dc.date 2016-09-21T14:03:20Z
dc.date 2016-09-21T14:03:20Z
dc.date 1997-01
dc.date.accessioned 2018-03-27T08:58:24Z
dc.date.available 2018-03-27T08:58:24Z
dc.identifier Foster, A., Ebinger, C., Mbede, E. and Rex, D., 1997. Tectonic development of the northern Taiizaiiian sector of the East African Rift System. Journal of the Geological Society, 154(4), pp.689-700.
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/4008
dc.identifier 10.1144/gsjgs.154.4.0689
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/4008
dc.description Full text can be accessed at http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/154/4/689.short
dc.description The Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System diverges from a single, c. 50 km wide rift in southern Kenya to a c. 200 km wide zone in northern Tanzania, where it is comprised of three distinct rifts with different orientations. The western part of this zone contains two rift branches: the Natron-Man yara-Balangida and Eyasi-Wembere rifts. Each rift contains individual basins that are defined here on the basis of structural and geophysical interpretations. These basins are shallow (<3km) and total extension across the bounding faults is small. New K/Ar age determinations on basalts from the western rift basins show that volcanism and sedimentation began in the area at c. 5 Ma. Major fault escarpments were present by c. 3 Ma and the present-day rift escarpments developed later than c. 1.2 Ma. Pre-rift volcanism produced large shield volcanoes of a basalt-trachyte-phonolite association that now lie on the rift flanks. Volcanism after the main phase of rift faulting produced volatile- and alkali-rich explosive centres which are active today, and have no equivalent in southern Kenya. The change in morphology of the Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System, and the style of volcanism in northern Tanzania, may be the result of the transition from the rifting of Proterozoic Mozambique Belt lithosphere to the rifting of cratonic Archaean lithosphere.
dc.language en
dc.title Tectonic Development of the Northern Tanzanian Sector of the East African Rift System
dc.type Journal Article


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