Styles of continental rifting: crust-mantle detachment and mantle plumes

Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low‐temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa

“…This spatiotemporal pattern of extension is inconsistent with tectonic models of rifting in East Africa that are based on a southward-directed migration of volcanism and cogenetic extension [McConnell, 1972;Ebinger and Sleep, 1998;Ebinger et al 2000;Nyblade and Brazier, 2002;Morley, 2010]. In light of the pronounced geophysical anomalies, evidence for mantle advection, and the evolution of dynamic topography associated with regional domal uplift [i.e., White and McKenzie, 1989;Simiyu and Keller, 1997;Prodehl et al, 1997;Achauer and Masson, 2002;Mechie et al, 1997;Sepulchre et al, 2006;Moucha and Forte, 2011;Wichura et al, 2015], the timing of extension throughout East Africa likely reflects a large-scale, mantle-driven process that generated differential stresses [e.g., Crough, 1983;Zeyen et al, 1997] and the formation of rift basins in areas characterized by pronounced lithospheric and crustal-scale anisotropies and weaknesses [i.e., Ashwal and Burke, 1989;Ebinger and Sleep, 1998;Smith and Mosley, 1993;Smith, 1994]. As such, our new data from the Kenya Rift, combined with the synopsis of geological and thermo-chronological studies in East Africa, is compatible with recent numerical modeling results [Koptev et al, 2015] that predict a regionally overlapping initiation of amagmatic and magmatic rifting sectors in East Africa following the asymmetric impingement of a single mantle plume [i.e., Halldórsson et al, 2014] at the base of the lithosphere of the eastern sector of the Tanzania Craton.…”

Early magmatism in the greater Red Sea rift: timing and significance

“…Burke (1996) also discussed plate boundary stresses and the evolution of the East African rift system and suggested that their role became more important after the collision of Arabia with Eurasia along the Bitlis-Zagros suture at about 15-10 Ma (Ş engör and Yilmaz 1981;Hempton 1987). Other workers have seen these farfield stresses as more significant, or conversely downplayed the role of hot spots/plumes, during the entire rifting history (Tapponnier and Francheteau 1978;Courtillot 1982;Coleman 1993;Zeyen et al 1997;Reilinger and McClusky 2011). Collins (2003) interpreted the dispersal of Pangaea, which would include lastly the East African rift system, to have been driven largely by slab retreat at adjacent subduction zones.…”

Geophysical, Magmatic, and Metallogenic Manifestations of a Mantle Plume in the Upper Reaches of the Aldan and Amur Rivers

“…В зоне Станового разлома магматические инъекции продолжались даже в кайнозое (неогеновые базальты Ко-даро-Удоканского и Бомнакского районов) [Геологическая карта…, 1999], где они, судя по их структур-ному положению, так же как южно-якутские межгорные впадины, имеют очевидное отношение к риф-тогенным процессам, наложенным на плюм. Заметим, что наложение рифтогенезов на плюмы является частым явлением в геологической природе [Zeyen, 1997;Leitch et al, 1998;Macdonald et el., 2001;Zorin et al, 2003;Любецкий, 2006;Борисенко и др., 2006;Сафонов и др., 2007;Saunders et al, 2007].…”