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Geosciences
Special Issues
The East African Rift: Tectonics, Magmatism and Natural Hazards
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The East African Rift: Tectonics, Magmatism and Natural Hazards

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Geophysics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 3771

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tobias P. Fischer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Interests: active volcanism; hydrothermal systems; Diffuse degassing of CO2; continental rift systems; East African Rift; Antarctica

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The East African Rift is the type location of current continental break-up. Geophysical and geochemical evidence suggests a dynamic link to a deep mantle anomaly, the African superplume. Magmatism in the East African Rift is diverse in composition, from alkaline to rhyolitic, with volcanic landforms including cinder cones, calderas and flood basalts. The extensional tectonics is accompanied by widespread magmatic underplating and intrusive mafic magma bodies, highlighting the importance of fluids and volatiles in rift initiation. Geologic hazards in the rift include effusive and explosive volcanic eruptions, CO2 emissions and lake overturning with catastrophic CO2 release, earthquakes and diking events, as well as landslides. Geophysical and geochemical monitoring remains sparse and inadequate in the East African Rift, significantly hampering our ability to forecast potentially hazardous events.

This Special Issue aims to provide an outlet for the rapid, widely-accessible publication of peer-reviewed studies utilizing the various tools of geophysics, structural geology, volcanology, geochemistry, sedimentology, and geodynamic modeling to address the processes of tectonics, magmatism and natural hazards in the East African Rift.

This Special Issue aims to cover, without being limited to, the following areas:

  * Linking tectonics and magmatism
  * The role of the African Superplume in rift initiation and evolution
  * Earthquake and volcanic hazards
  * Linking volcanism to mantle processes

Dr. Tobias P. Fischer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • volcanism
  • magmatism
  • tectonics
  • East African Rift
  • hazards
  • mantle processes

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

30 pages, 19420 KiB  
Article
Lithospheric Structure of a Transitional Magmatic to Amagmatic Continental Rift System—Insights from Magnetotelluric and Local Tomography Studies in the North Tanzanian Divergence, East African Rift
by Matthieu Plasman, Sophie Hautot, Pascal Tarits, Stéphanie Gautier, Christel Tiberi, Bernard Le Gall, Khalfan Mtelela and Remigius Gama
Geosciences 2019, 9(11), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9110462 - 29 Oct 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3385
Abstract
Continental break-up is controlled by several parameters and processes (rheology, inherited structures, magmatism, etc). Their impact, chronology and interactions are still poorly known and debated, particularly when rifting interacts with cratons. In order to better understand the rifting initiation in a cratonic lithosphere, [...] Read more.
Continental break-up is controlled by several parameters and processes (rheology, inherited structures, magmatism, etc). Their impact, chronology and interactions are still poorly known and debated, particularly when rifting interacts with cratons. In order to better understand the rifting initiation in a cratonic lithosphere, we analysed 22 magnetotelluric (MT) soundings collected along two East-West profiles in two different rift segments of the North Tanzanian Divergence. The North Tanzanian Divergence, where the East African Rift is at its earliest stage, is a remarkable example of the transition between magmatic to amagmatic rifting with two clearly identified segments. Only separated by a hundred kilometers, these segments, Natron (North) and Manyara (South), display contrasted morphological (wide versus narrow), volcanic (many versus a few edifices) and seismic (shallow versus deep activity) signatures. Magnetotelluric profiles across the two segments were inverted with a three-dimensional approach and supplied the resistive structure of the upper lithosphere (down to about 70 km). The Natron segment has a rather conductive lithosphere containing several resistive features (Proterozoic Belt), whereas the Manyara segment displays highly resistive blocks probably of cratonic nature encompassing a conductive structure under the axial valley. The joint interpretation of these models with recent local and regional seismological studies highlights totally different structures and processes involved in the two segments of the North Tanzanian Divergence. We identified contrasted CO2 content, magma upwelling or trapping, in depth regarding the Manyara or the Natron branch and the influence of inherited cratonic structures in the rifting dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The East African Rift: Tectonics, Magmatism and Natural Hazards)
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