Afar Rift Consortium

Graham Stuart, James Hammond, Michael Kendall, Derek Keir
2011
Afar Rift Consortium
This is a Full Scientific Report resulting from NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility Loan 841, principal investigator Prof Graham Stuart.

Abstract

SEIS-UK provided an initial loan of 27 broadband seismic systems (23 x CMGESP, 3 x CMG3T and 1 CMG6TD) for a period of between 16 and 24 months, for deployment in a network that extended more than 500 km across northern Ethiopia, centred on the Afar Depression. The SEIS-UK deployment was coeval with an NSF funded deployment of 14 CMG40T seismometers in the central part of Afar. The initial network ran from September 2007 until October 2009. These systems recorded continuously at 50Hz with relatively minor data losses due to equipment problems. All data have been archived with IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) and is a key dataset in the NERC Afar Consortium Project. Teleseismic tomography has been used to deliver P and S-wave velocity models for the upper mantle. These show focussed, melt related, anomalies in the top 100km of the lithosphere with broad upwellings below. Crustal structure across Afar and on the Western Plateau are constrained with P-wave receiver functions and surface wave dispersion, providing understanding on the breakup history of Afar and showing that the lower crust contains large amounts of melt.

Full Report

PDF Afar Rift Consortium (4.9 Mb)
Cite as:
Stuart, G., Hammond, J., Kendall, M., Keir, D., "Afar Rift Consortium", NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility, Scientific Report 841, 2011

Selected external publications resulting from this GEF loan

  1. Illsley-Kemp, F., Keir, D., Bull, J.M., Gernon, T.M., Ebinger, C., Ayele, A., Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J., Goitom, B. and Belachew, M., 2018, Seismicity During Continental Breakup in the Red Sea Rift of Northern Afar, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(3), p2345-2362, doi: 10.1002/2017JB014902
  2. Lavayssière, A., Rychert, C., Harmon, N., Keir, D., Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J., Doubre, C. and Leroy, S., 2018, Imaging Lithospheric Discontinuities Beneath the Northern East African Rift Using S-to-P Receiver Functions, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 19(10), p4048-4062, doi: 10.1029/2018GC007463
  3. Illsley-Kemp, F., 2018, Crustal Processes Associated with the Final Stages of Continental Rifting in Northern Afar, University of Southampton, PhD Thesis
  4. Armitage, J.J., Ferguson, D.J., Goes, S., Hammond, J.O.S., Calais, E., Rychert, C.A. and Harmon, N., 2015, Upper mantle temperature and the onset of extension and break-up in Afar, Africa, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 418, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.02.039
  5. Ayele, A., Ebinger, C.J., van Alstyne, C., Keir, D., Nixon, C.W., Belachew, M. and Hammond, J.O.S., 2015, Seismicity of the central Afar rift and implications for Tendaho dam hazards, Geological Society of London Special Publications, doi: 10.1144/SP420.9
  6. Thompson, D.A., Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J.M., Stuart, G.W., Helffrich, G.R., Keir, D., Ayele, A. and Goitom, B., 2015, Hydrous upwelling across the mantle transition zone beneath the Afar Triple Junction, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 16, pp834-846, doi: 10.1002/2014GC005648
  7. Bastow, I.D., Pilidou, S., Kendall,J.-M. and Stuart, G., 2010, Melt-induced seismic anisotropy and magma assisted rifting in Ethiopia: Evidence from surface waves, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 11(Q0AB05), p19, doi: 10.1029/2010GC003036
  8. Belachew, M., Ebinger, C., Cote, D., Keir, D., Rowland, J.V., Hammond, J.O.S. and Ayele, A., 2011, Comparison of dike intrusions in an incipient seafloor-spreading segment in Afar, Ethiopia: Seismicity perspectives, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116(B06405), p23, doi: 10.1029/2010JB007908
  9. Chang, S.J. and Van der Lee, S., 2011, Mantle plumes and associated flow beneath Arabia and East Africa, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 302, pp448-454, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.12.050
  10. Guidarelli, M., Stuart, G., Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J.M., Ayele, A. and Belachew, M., 2011, Surface wave tomography across Afar, Ethiopia: Crustal structure at a rift triple-junction zone, Geophysical Research Letters, 38, doi: 10.1029/2011GL046840
  11. Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J.-M., Stuart, G.W., Keir, D., Ebinger, C., Ayele, A. and Belachew, M., 2011, The nature of the crust beneath the Afar triple junction: evidence from receiver functions, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 12(Q12004), p24, doi: 10.1029/2011GC003738
  12. Keir, D., Belachew, M., Ebinger, C., Kendall, J.-M., Hammond, J., Stuart,G., Ayele, A. and Rowland, J., 2011, Mapping the evolving strain field during continental breakup from crustal anisotropy in the Afar depression, Nature Communications, 2(285), doi: 10.1038/ncomms1287
  13. Hammond, J.O.S., 2014, Constraining melt geometries beneath the Afar Depression, Ethiopia from teleseismic receiver functions: The anisotropic H-κ stacking technique, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15(4), pp1316-1332, doi: 10.1002/2013GC005186
  14. Hammond, J.O.S., Kendall, J.M., Wookey, J., Stuart, G.W., Keir, D. and Ayele, A., 2014, Differentiating flow, melt, or fossil seismic anisotropy beneath Ethiopia, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15(5), pp1878-1894, doi: 10.1002/2013GC005185
  15. Civiero, C., 2016, Understanding mantle upwelling beneath East-Africa, Imperial College London, PhD Thesis
  16. Belachew, M., Ebinger, C. and Cote, D., 2013, Source mechanisms of dike-induced earthquakes in the Dabbahu-Manda Hararo rift segment in Afar, Ethiopia: implications for faulting above dikes, Geophysical Journal International, 192(3), pp907-917, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggs076
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