Large-scale mass wasting in the western Indian Ocean constrains onset of East African rifting

Vittorio Maselli (), David Iacopini, Cynthia J. Ebinger, Sugandha Tewari, Henk de Haas, Bridget S. Wade, Paul N. Pearson, Malcolm Francis, Arjan van Vliet, Bill Richards and Dick Kroon
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Vittorio Maselli: Dalhousie University
David Iacopini: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Cynthia J. Ebinger: Tulane University
Sugandha Tewari: WesternGeco
Henk de Haas: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University
Bridget S. Wade: University College London
Paul N. Pearson: Cardiff University
Malcolm Francis: WesternGeco
Arjan van Vliet: Royal Dutch Shell
Bill Richards: Dalhousie University
Dick Kroon: University of Edinburgh

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Faulting and earthquakes occur extensively along the flanks of the East African Rift System, including an offshore branch in the western Indian Ocean, resulting in remobilization of sediment in the form of landslides. To date, constraints on the occurrence of submarine landslides at margin scale are lacking, leaving unanswered a link between rifting and slope instability. Here, we show the first overview of landslide deposits in the post-Eocene stratigraphy of the Tanzania margin and we present the discovery of one of the biggest landslides on Earth: the Mafia mega-slide. The emplacement of multiple landslides, including the Mafia mega-slide, during the early-mid Miocene is coeval with cratonic rifting in Tanzania, indicating that plateau uplift and rifting in East Africa triggered large and potentially tsunamigenic landslides likely through earthquake activity and enhanced sediment supply. This study is a first step to evaluate the risk associated with submarine landslides in the region.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17267-5

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