Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 16 September 1994:
Vol. 265. no. 5179, pp. 1677 - 1681
DOI: 10.1126/science.265.5179.1677
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Kinematics of the Asal Rift (Djibouti) Determined from the Deformation of Fieale Volcano

Jean-Bernard De Chabalier 1 and Jean-Philippe Avouac 2

1 Équipe de Sismotectonique, Institut de Physique du Globe, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
2 Laboratoire De Géophysique, Commissariat à I'Énergie Atomique(CEA), B.P. 12, Bruyères-le-Chatel 91680, France

Because of its subaerial exposure the Asal rift segment provides an exceptional opportunity to quantify the deformation field of an active rift and assess the contribution of tectonics and volcanism to rifting processes. The present topography of the Asal rift results from the tectonic dismemberment during the last 100,000 years of a large central volcanic edifice that formed astride the rift zone 300,000 to 100,000 years ago. Three-dimensional deformation of this volcano has been quantified from the combined analysis of the topography and geology. The analysis indicates that spreading at 17 to 29 millimeters per year in a N40° ± 5°E direction accounts for most of the separation between Arabia and Somalia. The small topographic subsidence relative to extension suggests that tectonic thinning of the crust has been balanced by injection and underplating of magmatic material of near crustal density. The methodology developed in this study could also be applied to quantify deformation in relatively inaccessible areas where the main available information is topography or bathymetry.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Fluid-controlled faulting process in the Asal Rift, Djibouti, from 8 yr of radar interferometry observations.
C. Doubre and G. Peltzer (2007)
Geology 35, 69-72
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Strain accommodation in transitional rifts: extension by magma intrusion and faulting in Ethiopian rift magmatic segments.
M. Casey, C. Ebinger, D. Keir, R. Gloaguen, and F. Mohamed (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 259, 143-163
   Abstract »    PDF »
Northern Main Ethiopian Rift crustal structure from new high-precision gravity data.
D.G. Cornwell, G.D. Mackenzie, R.W. England, P.K.H. Maguire, L.M. Asfaw, and B. Oluma (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 259, 307-321
   Abstract »    PDF »
Oceanic inside corner detachments of the Limassol Forest area, Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus.
J. R. CANN, H. M. PRICHARD, J. G. MALPAS, and C. XENOPHONTOS (2001)
Journal of the Geological Society 158, 757-767
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Brittle strain regime transition in the Afar depression: Implications for fault growth and seafloor spreading.
A. Gupta and C. H. Scholz (2000)
Geology 28, 1087-1090
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)