Simultaneous rift-scale inflation of a deep crustal sill network in Afar, East Africa
Simultaneous rift-scale inflation of a deep crustal sill network in Afar, East Africa
Decades of studies at divergent plate margins have revealed networks of magmatic sills at the crust-mantle boundary. However, a lack of direct observations of deep magma motion limits our understanding of magma inflow from the mantle into the lower crust and the mechanism of sill formation. Here, satellite geodesy reveals rift-scale deformation caused by magma inflow in the deep crust in the Afar rift (East Africa). Simultaneous inflation of four sills, laterally separated by 10s of km and at depths ranging 9–28 km, caused uplift across a ~ 100-km-wide zone, suggesting the sills are linked to a common mantle source. Our results show the supply of magma into the lower crust is temporally episodic, occurring across a network of sills. This process reflects inherent instability of melt migration through porous mantle flow and may be the fundamental process that builds the thick igneous crust beneath magmatic rifts and rifted margins globally.
La Rosa, Alessandro
3443c440-23fe-437e-b908-80f6b923c4ba
Pagli, Carolina
290edb22-712b-4563-a868-af4c21fdb6b0
Wang, Hua
d2464222-af0f-49da-a6bb-8770dc1f0b11
Sigmundsson, Freysteinn
c4909556-6d7f-4628-aa24-3bda56a63cc2
Pinel, Virginie
5a3777e5-d5e8-4626-b08e-9cbf18223f82
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
December 2024
La Rosa, Alessandro
3443c440-23fe-437e-b908-80f6b923c4ba
Pagli, Carolina
290edb22-712b-4563-a868-af4c21fdb6b0
Wang, Hua
d2464222-af0f-49da-a6bb-8770dc1f0b11
Sigmundsson, Freysteinn
c4909556-6d7f-4628-aa24-3bda56a63cc2
Pinel, Virginie
5a3777e5-d5e8-4626-b08e-9cbf18223f82
Keir, Derek
5616f81f-bf1b-4678-a167-3160b5647c65
La Rosa, Alessandro, Pagli, Carolina, Wang, Hua, Sigmundsson, Freysteinn, Pinel, Virginie and Keir, Derek
(2024)
Simultaneous rift-scale inflation of a deep crustal sill network in Afar, East Africa.
Nature Communications, 15 (1), [4287].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47136-4).
Abstract
Decades of studies at divergent plate margins have revealed networks of magmatic sills at the crust-mantle boundary. However, a lack of direct observations of deep magma motion limits our understanding of magma inflow from the mantle into the lower crust and the mechanism of sill formation. Here, satellite geodesy reveals rift-scale deformation caused by magma inflow in the deep crust in the Afar rift (East Africa). Simultaneous inflation of four sills, laterally separated by 10s of km and at depths ranging 9–28 km, caused uplift across a ~ 100-km-wide zone, suggesting the sills are linked to a common mantle source. Our results show the supply of magma into the lower crust is temporally episodic, occurring across a network of sills. This process reflects inherent instability of melt migration through porous mantle flow and may be the fundamental process that builds the thick igneous crust beneath magmatic rifts and rifted margins globally.
Text
s41467-024-47136-4
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 March 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 May 2024
Published date: December 2024
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Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 490874
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/490874
ISSN: 2041-1723
PURE UUID: 42ef2929-95d4-4d40-81de-94b0d4bcfe71
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Date deposited: 07 Jun 2024 16:43
Last modified: 21 Aug 2025 02:06
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Contributors
Author:
Alessandro La Rosa
Author:
Carolina Pagli
Author:
Hua Wang
Author:
Freysteinn Sigmundsson
Author:
Virginie Pinel
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