Aborted propagation of the Ethiopian rift caused by linkage with the Kenyan rift

Giacomo Corti (), Raffaello Cioni, Zara Franceschini, Federico Sani, Stéphane Scaillet, Paola Molin, Ilaria Isola, Francesco Mazzarini, Sascha Brune, Derek Keir, Asfaw Erbello, Ameha Muluneh, Finnigan Illsley-Kemp and Anne Glerum
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Giacomo Corti: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Raffaello Cioni: Università degli Studi di Firenze
Zara Franceschini: Università degli Studi di Firenze
Federico Sani: Università degli Studi di Firenze
Stéphane Scaillet: Université d’Orléans CNRS BRGM
Paola Molin: Università degli Studi di Roma Tre
Ilaria Isola: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa
Francesco Mazzarini: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa
Sascha Brune: German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ
Derek Keir: Università degli Studi di Firenze
Asfaw Erbello: Adama Science and Technology University
Ameha Muluneh: Addis Ababa University
Finnigan Illsley-Kemp: University of Southampton
Anne Glerum: German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Continental rift systems form by propagation of isolated rift segments that interact, and eventually evolve into continuous zones of deformation. This process impacts many aspects of rifting including rift morphology at breakup, and eventual ocean-ridge segmentation. Yet, rift segment growth and interaction remain enigmatic. Here we present geological data from the poorly documented Ririba rift (South Ethiopia) that reveals how two major sectors of the East African rift, the Kenyan and Ethiopian rifts, interact. We show that the Ririba rift formed from the southward propagation of the Ethiopian rift during the Pliocene but this propagation was short-lived and aborted close to the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary. Seismicity data support the abandonment of laterally offset, overlapping tips of the Ethiopian and Kenyan rifts. Integration with new numerical models indicates that rift abandonment resulted from progressive focusing of the tectonic and magmatic activity into an oblique, throughgoing rift zone of near pure extension directly connecting the rift sectors.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09335-2

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