Contrasted continental rifting via plume-craton interaction: Applications to Central East African Rift

Non‐uniform splitting of a single mantle plume by double cratonic roots: Insight into the origin of the central and southern East African Rift System

“…As in previous 3D experiments (Burov & Gerya, ; Koptev et al., , ), the models presented here predict a rapid mantle ascent as the mantle plume reaches the lithospheric bottom after 0.5 Ma. The common feature of the performed models is a separation of the upwelling plume head into three parts by the lithosphere of the Tanzanian and Bangweulu blocks.…”

“…Their models have provided a unified physical framework to understand the simultaneous development of the Western and Eastern branches around a thicker Tanzanian craton (Roberts et al., ) as a result of the interaction between pre‐stressed continental lithosphere and a single mantle plume anomaly corresponding to the Kenyan plume (Chang & Van der Lee, ; George, Rogers, & Kelley, ; Pik, Marty, & Hilton, ). Yet, the southern prolongation of the Western rift by the Malawi rift has not been reproduced in any of these “one‐craton” experiments (Koptev et al., , ). In order to overcome this discrepancy, we follow‐up on our previous studies with a series of laterally widened thermo‐mechanical models characterized by the presence of a second zone of lithospheric thickening that roughly mimics the isometric (i.e.…”

“…However, as shown by Koptev, Calais, Burov, Leroy, and Gerya (), Koptev et al. (), the formation of two rift zones on opposite sides of a thick lithosphere segment can be explained without appealing to pre‐imposed heterogeneities at the crustal level. Their models have provided a unified physical framework to understand the simultaneous development of the Western and Eastern branches around a thicker Tanzanian craton (Roberts et al., ) as a result of the interaction between pre‐stressed continental lithosphere and a single mantle plume anomaly corresponding to the Kenyan plume (Chang & Van der Lee, ; George, Rogers, & Kelley, ; Pik, Marty, & Hilton, ).…”

Plume‐Induced Breakup of a Subducting Plate: Microcontinent Formation Without Cessation of the Subduction Process

“…Repeated jumps of midoceanic ridges toward nearby hot spots within oceanic lithosphere have been reproduced numerically by Mittelstaedt et al (2008Mittelstaedt et al ( , 2011 and observed by d' Acremont et al (2010). Mantle upwelling, thus, was confirmed to be one of the key factors in the contrasting continental rifting characterized by both "passive/amagmatic" and "active/magmatic" branches (see also 3-D experiments by Koptev et al, 2015Koptev et al, , 2016Koptev, Cloetingh, et al, 2018) that may further evolve into breakup centers embracing isolated continental block (Beniest, Koptev, Leroy, et al, 2017). Mantle upwelling, thus, was confirmed to be one of the key factors in the contrasting continental rifting characterized by both "passive/amagmatic" and "active/magmatic" branches (see also 3-D experiments by Koptev et al, 2015Koptev et al, , 2016Koptev, Cloetingh, et al, 2018) that may further evolve into breakup centers embracing isolated continental block (Beniest, Koptev, Leroy, et al, 2017).…”

Along‐Axis Variations of Rift Width in a Coupled Lithosphere‐Mantle System, Application to East Africa

“…Second, we run one slightly more complex experiment (model 10) that includes an oval‐shape, 250‐km‐thick craton with a lateral extent of 800 × 400 km that mimics the Tanzanian craton and a mantle plume initially laterally shifted to the northeast with respect to the center of the model box (Adams et al, ; Artemieva, ; Mulibo & Nyblade, ; Ritsema et al, ). This model, similar in setup to those of Koptev et al (, ), is meant to simulate a setting close to that of the eastern branch of the EARS.…”