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Observing oblique slip during rift linkage in Northern Afar

Observing oblique slip during rift linkage in Northern Afar
Observing oblique slip during rift linkage in Northern Afar
Extensional plate boundaries are segmented by offsets that transfer extension between the ends of adjacent portions of the rift by linkage zones ranging in width from a few tens of km to several hundreds of km. However, the kinematics of linkage zones is poorly constrained as direct observations are difficult to make. Here we combine InSAR, seismicity and structural geology data from the Afar rift to show that an active linkage zone currently connects the two offset Erta Ale and Tat Ali segments. The overall right‐lateral shear between the segments is accommodated primarily by oblique left‐lateral slip along faults sub‐parallel to the rift segments but an active conjugate fault system with right‐lateral slip is also present. Our results provide the first direct observational evidence that offset rift segments during continental breakup can be linked by a shear zone composed of a conjugate set of oblique slip faults.
0094-8276
10782-10790
La Rosa, Alessandro
3443c440-23fe-437e-b908-80f6b923c4ba
Pagli, Carolina
290edb22-712b-4563-a868-af4c21fdb6b0
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
Sani, Federico
6c59b4c4-ecca-4ecc-ba2c-66efa5e5e3df
Corti, Giacomo
dce88b12-5b7a-43b1-8a58-5bd1bc13634c
Wang, Hua
d2464222-af0f-49da-a6bb-8770dc1f0b11
Possee, Daniel
30c7e9de-c298-469e-a9ae-c1c1caf910dc
La Rosa, Alessandro
3443c440-23fe-437e-b908-80f6b923c4ba
Pagli, Carolina
290edb22-712b-4563-a868-af4c21fdb6b0
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
Sani, Federico
6c59b4c4-ecca-4ecc-ba2c-66efa5e5e3df
Corti, Giacomo
dce88b12-5b7a-43b1-8a58-5bd1bc13634c
Wang, Hua
d2464222-af0f-49da-a6bb-8770dc1f0b11
Possee, Daniel
30c7e9de-c298-469e-a9ae-c1c1caf910dc

La Rosa, Alessandro, Pagli, Carolina, Keir, Derek, Sani, Federico, Corti, Giacomo, Wang, Hua and Possee, Daniel (2019) Observing oblique slip during rift linkage in Northern Afar. Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (19), 10782-10790. (doi:10.1029/2019GL084801).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Extensional plate boundaries are segmented by offsets that transfer extension between the ends of adjacent portions of the rift by linkage zones ranging in width from a few tens of km to several hundreds of km. However, the kinematics of linkage zones is poorly constrained as direct observations are difficult to make. Here we combine InSAR, seismicity and structural geology data from the Afar rift to show that an active linkage zone currently connects the two offset Erta Ale and Tat Ali segments. The overall right‐lateral shear between the segments is accommodated primarily by oblique left‐lateral slip along faults sub‐parallel to the rift segments but an active conjugate fault system with right‐lateral slip is also present. Our results provide the first direct observational evidence that offset rift segments during continental breakup can be linked by a shear zone composed of a conjugate set of oblique slip faults.

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Rosa_et_al-2019-Geophysical_Research_Letters - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 5 September 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 September 2019
Published date: 16 October 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 434208
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434208
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: 5c706eca-b5d1-4002-a0c2-2412b50c99bb
ORCID for Derek Keir: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8787-8446

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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:24

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Contributors

Author: Alessandro La Rosa
Author: Carolina Pagli
Author: Derek Keir ORCID iD
Author: Federico Sani
Author: Giacomo Corti
Author: Hua Wang
Author: Daniel Possee

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