Fault-magma interactions during early continental rifting: Seismicity of the Magadi-Natron-Manyara basins, Africa

dc.contributor.advisorC. J. Ebinger
dc.contributor.advisorS. J. Oliva
dc.contributor.advisorS. Roecker
dc.contributor.advisorC. Tiberi
dc.contributor.advisorM. Aman
dc.contributor.advisorC. Lambert
dc.contributor.advisorE. Witkin
dc.contributor.advisorJ. Albaric, S. Gautier, A. Muzuka, G. Mulibo, G. Kianji, R. Hadfield, F. Illsley-Kemp, M. Msabi, R. Ferdinand-Wambura, S. Perrot, J. Muirhead, A. Rodzianko, T. Fischer
dc.contributor.authorA. Weinstein
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-13T11:01:29Z
dc.date.available2018-09-13T11:01:29Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractAlthough magmatism may occur during the earliest stages of continental rifting, its role in strain accommodation remains weakly constrained by largely 2-D studies. We analyze seismicity data from a 13 month, 39-station broadband seismic array to determine the role of magma intrusion on state-of-stress and strain localization, and their along-strike variations. Precise earthquake locations using cluster analyses and a new 3-D velocity model reveal lower crustal earthquakes beneath the central basins and along projections of steep border faults that degas CO2. Seismicity forms several disks interpreted as sills at 6–10 km below a monogenetic cone field. The sills overlie a lower crustal magma chamber that may feed eruptions at Oldoinyo Lengai volcano. After determining a new ML scaling relation, we determine a b-value of 0.8760.03. Focal mechanisms for 65 earthquakes, and 13 from a catalogue prior to our array reveal an along-axis stress rotation of 608 in the magmatically active zone. New and prior mechanisms show predominantly normal slip along steep nodal planes, with extension directions N908E north and south of an active volcanic chain consistent with geodetic data, and N1508E in the volcanic chain. The stress rotation facilitates strain transfer from border fault systems, the locus of early-stage deformation, to the zone of magma intrusion in the central rift. Our seismic, structural, and geochemistry results indicate that frequent lower crustal earthquakes are promoted by elevated pore pressures from volatile degassing along border faults, and hydraulic fracture around the margins of magma bodies. Results indicate that earthquakes are largely driven by stress state around inflating magma bodies.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNSF grant EAR-1113355 (C.E., S.R., J.M., T.F., A.W., M.A., C.L., A.R., and E.W.), grant ANR-12-JS06–000401 (C.T., J.A., S.G., and S.P.)en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1002/2017GC007027
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/4893
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherGeochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystemsen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries;18, 3662–3686
dc.titleFault-magma interactions during early continental rifting: Seismicity of the Magadi-Natron-Manyara basins, Africaen_US
dc.typeJournal Article, Peer Revieweden_US
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