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The uppermost mantle beneath the Kenya dome and relation to melting, rifting and uplift in East Africa
Author(s) -
Davis Paul M.,
Slack Philip D.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013676
Subject(s) - geology , rift , lithosphere , mantle (geology) , dome (geology) , east african rift , graben , seismology , upwelling , rift valley , partial melting , extensional tectonics , mantle convection , extensional definition , geophysics , tectonics , paleontology , oceanography
We compare new results on S‐wave delays and P wave tomography to characterize the rising limb and melt zone of an inferred mantle convection cell beneath the Kenya dome. These results are extended to the Nyiragongo and Ethiopia domes using long wavelength gravity and topography. We suggest that the east African rift results from separation of deeper mantle upwelling into three currents that impinge on and erode the base of the lithosphere. Their thermal buoyancy drives the domal uplift, whereas brittle failure of the upper lithosphere forms the rift grabens.