East African Rift System plate geometries and surface motions are some of the least constrained in the context of global plate motion models. In this study, we used GPS data to constrain Somalian plate rotation and to suggest a new tectonic plate geometry for the region. In addition, we tested geologic data from the Southwest Indian Ridge and new GPS data on Madagascar to determine refined kinematics of the Lwandle microplate. A zone of broad deformation was discovered, extending from the eastern boundary of the Rovuma microplate, across the Comoros Islands, and including parts of central and northern Madagascar. Madagascar is fragmenting, with southern Madagascar rotating with the Lwandle microplate and a piece of eastern and south-central Madagascar moving with the Somalian plate. Divergence of the Nubian-Somalian plate system across the East African Rift System involves both diffuse deformation and strain accommodation along narrow rift segments that bound rigid blocks.

Our understanding of how magma‐poor rifts accommodate strain remains limited largely due to sparse geophysical observations from these rift systems. To better understand the magma‐poor rifting processes, we investigate the lithospheric structure of the Malawi Rift, a segment of the magma‐poor western branch of the East African Rift System. We analyze Bouguer gravity anomalies from the World Gravity Model 2012 using the two‐dimensional (2‐D) radially averaged power‐density spectrum technique and 2‐D forward modeling to estimate the crustal and lithospheric thickness beneath the rift. We find: (1) relatively thin crust (38–40 km) beneath the northern Malawi Rift segment and relatively thick crust (41–45 km) beneath the central and southern segments; (2) thinner lithosphere beneath the surface expression of the entire rift with the thinnest lithosphere (115–125 km) occurring beneath its northern segment; and (3) an approximately E‐W trending belt of thicker lithosphere (180–210 km) beneath the rift's central segment. We then use the lithospheric structure to constrain three‐dimensional numerical models of lithosphere‐asthenosphere interactions, which indicate ~3‐cm/year asthenospheric upwelling beneath the thinner lithosphere. We interpret that magma‐poor rifting is characterized by coupling of crust‐lithospheric mantle extension beneath the rift's isolated magmatic zones and decoupling in the rift's magma‐poor segments. We propose that coupled extension beneath rift's isolated magmatic zones is assisted by lithospheric weakening due to melts from asthenospheric upwelling whereas decoupled extension beneath rift's magma‐poor segments is assisted by concentration of fluids possibly fed from deeper asthenospheric melt that is yet to breach the surface.

The East African Rift (EAR, Figure 1a) is the dominantly continental portion of the East African Rift System, which separates the Nubian and Somalian Plates and is the largest continental rift on Earth. The EAR is traditionally divided into three distinct rift segments: the northern EAR (Afar region), the Eastern Branch, and the Western Branch. Its spatial extent, heterogeneous lithospheric structure, and variable rates of extension across the EAR produce a wide range of deformation styles. At present, the origin of forces driving extension across the EAR remains highly debated. The absence of regional slab-pull forces requires dominant contributions from lithospheric buoyancy and horizontal mantle flow. Lithospheric buoyancy arises from a combination of changes in lithospheric structure (composition, geothermal gradients) and surface topography (Fleitout, 1991; Fleitout & Froidevaux, 1982; Flesch et al., 2000; Jones et al., 1996), with the latter partially supported by vertical mantle flow (i.e., dynamic topography; Flesch et al., 2007). When isostatic compensation is assumed, lithospheric buoyancy can be quantified through the integration of lithostatic pressure to a compensation depth (i.e., gravitational potential energy ∼GPE), with regions of locally high GPE undergoing extension (e.g., Coblentz & Sandiford, 1994). While lithospheric buoyancy generates internal stresses driving deformation, mantle flow gives rise to both vertical and horizontal tractions acting at the base of the lithosphere (e.g.

Over the past few decades, azimuthal seismic anisotropy measurements have been widely used proxy to study past and present‐day deformation of the lithosphere and to characterize convection in the mantle. Beneath continental regions, distinguishing between shallow and deep sources of anisotropy remains difficult due to poor depth constraints of measurements and a lack of regional‐scale geodynamic modeling. Here, we constrain the sources of seismic anisotropy beneath Madagascar where a complex pattern cannot be explained by a single process such as absolute plate motion, global mantle flow, or geology. We test the hypotheses that either Edge‐Driven Convection (EDC) or mantle flow derived from mantle wind interactions with lithospheric topography is the dominant source of anisotropy beneath Madagascar. We, therefore, simulate two sets of mantle convection models using regional‐scale 3‐D computational modeling. We then calculate Lattice Preferred Orientation that develops along pathlines of the mantle flow models and use them to calculate synthetic splitting parameters. Comparison of predicted with observed seismic anisotropy shows a good fit in northern and southern Madagascar for the EDC model, but the mantle wind case only fits well in northern Madagascar. This result suggests the dominant control of the measured anisotropy may be from EDC, but the role of localized fossil anisotropy in narrow shear zones cannot be ruled out in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the asthenosphere beneath northern and southern Madagascar is dominated by dislocation creep. Dislocation creep rheology may be dominant in the upper asthenosphere beneath other regions of continental lithosphere.

The force balance that drives and maintains continental rifting to breakup is poorly understood. The East African Rift (EAR) provides an ideal natural laboratory to elucidate the relative role of plate driving forces as only lithospheric buoyancy forces and horizontal mantle tractions act on the system. Here, we employ high‐resolution 3D thermomechanical models to test whether: (a) the anomalous, rift‐parallel surface deformation observed by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data in the EAR are driven by viscous coupling to northward mantle flow associated with the African Superplume, and (b) the African Superplume is the dominant source mechanism of anomalous rift‐parallel seismic anisotropy beneath the EAR. We calculate Lattice Preferred Orientations (LPO) and surface deformation from two types of mantle flow: (a) a scenario with multiple plumes constrained by shear wave tomography and (b) a single superplume model with northward boundary condition to simulate large‐scale flow. Comparison of calculated LPO with observed seismic anisotropy, and surface velocities with GNSS and plate kinematics reveal that there is a better fit with the superplume mantle flow model, rather than the tomography‐based (multiple plumes) model. We also find a relatively better fit spatially between observed seismic anisotropy and calculated LPO with the superplume model beneath northern and central EAR, where the superplume is proposed to be shallowest. Our results suggest that the viscous coupling of the lithosphere to northward mantle flow associated with the African Superplume drives most of the rift‐parallel deformation and is the dominant source of the first‐order pattern of the observed seismic anisotropy in the EAR.