Computer simulations confirm that the African Superplume causes the unusual deformations and rift-parallel seismic anisotropy detected below the East African Rift System. Continental rifting involves a combination of stretching and fracturing that penetrates deep within the Earth, explains geophy
Research led by D. Sarah Stamps, using 3D thermomechanical modeling, has found that the African Superplume, a massive mantle upwelling, causes unusual rift-parallel deformations observed in the East African Rift System. This adds complexity to the debate around the primary forces driving the rifting, suggesting a combination of lithospheric buoyancy forces and mantle traction forces.
“If you hit Silly Putty with a hammer, it can actually crack and break,” said Stamps, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, part of theCollege of Science. “But if you slowly pull it apart, the Silly Putty stretches. So on different time scales, Earth’s lithosphere behaves in different ways.”
Their findings, combined with insights from a study the researchers published in 2021 using Rajaonarison’s modeling techniques, could help clear up scientific debate on which plate-driving forces dominate the East African Rift System, accounting for both its rift-perpendicular and rift-parallel deformation: lithospheric buoyancy forces, mantle traction forces, or both.
In their newly published study, Rajaonarison again used 3D thermomechanical modeling, this time to focus on the source of the rift-parallel deformations. His models confirm that the African Superplume is responsible for the unusual deformations as well as rift-parallel seismic anisotropy observed beneath the East African Rift System.
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