The propagation of rifting and delineation of microplates in East Africa: the MOZART project

Abstract

The MOZART experiment consisted of a deployment of 30 stations in central and southern Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa. The overall goal was to study the signature of nascent rifting at the southernmost extent of the East African Rift. The particular goals were to record local seismicity and record teleseisms. Both operational goals were successful, though only about 25 stations in all yielded usable data. We faced severe operational diff culties due to the logistics of deployment and due to unanticipated flooding of some sites, which led to equipment damage and reduced network operational capacity. Howev er the data yield was sufficient to yield preliminary results on the trend of active rifting and for the crustal structure throughout central and southern Mozambique. We find that the rifting trend appears to be following the southern African cratonic margin rather than heading seaward, and that the crust thins significantly (>35 km to <15km) from the cratonic margin to the Mozambique Coastal Plain.