Geological data from the Western Afar Margin, East Africa

(2020) Geological data from the Western Afar Margin, East Africa. Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam doi:10.5880/fidgeo.2020.017 [Dataset]

Abstract

This dataset contains geological data from the Western Afar Margin (WAM) in East Africa. These in-clude (reprocessed) earthquake data from previously published surveys and publically accessible databases (Keir et al. 2006, 2009; Ebinger et al 2008; Belachew et al. 2011; Illsley-Kemp et al. 2018a, b and the GCMT Project 2019), which form the basis for Seismic Moment Release (SMR) mapping as well as and tectonic stress analysis, revealing the location and intensity of ongoing deformation, as well as the direction of current extension, respectively. In addition, we present various large-scale maps of the WAM, depicting faults, dikes and sedimentary basins as interpreted from topographic indicators. Field data (GPS locations, fault measurements, field book), acquired during two field campaigns in Ethiopia and Eritrea are included, as well as the kinematic interpretation of the field data using Wintensor software (Delvaux & Sperner 2003). These results are combined with previously published kinematic data from Eritrea and Ethiopia (i.e. the northernmost and southern segments of the WAM, studied by Chorowicz et al. 1999 and Sani et al. 2017), yielding the first coherent overview of (current) tectonic deformation covering the whole margin. Note that we also provide a field book with detailed descriptions of every outcrop, including photographs. Finally, we include unique borehole data from the Kobo graben area, based on well logs from irrigation projects kindly provided to us by local geologists during the Ethiopian field campaign (see section 2.5 and the acknowledgements). Applications and interpretation of the data provided in this dataset can be found in Zwaan et al. (2020). For more description please refer to the data description. This data publication consists of 90 files: (digital) maps, GPS locations, tables, text and Wintensor files. A detailed overview of all files within this dataset is given in the List of Files.

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Contributors

Contributor: Derek Keir

Contributor: Finnigan Illsley-Kemp

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