Upper Crustal Extension in the Turkana Rift: 3-D Geometry and Kinematics of Small-Magnitude Extension in East Africa

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The East Africa Rift system is one of the earth's major active extensional environments in continental crust. Seismic profiling in the rift lakes has demonstrated a consistent style of half-graben rift basins bounded by major border faults and linked by accommodation zones. However, fault geometry and kinematics of rift architecture have not been rigorously tested, due to generally poor exposure and weak age control. This project will take advantage of well-exposed faults and shear zones in the area surrounding Lake Turkana on the eastern branch of the East African Rift System in order to evaluate existing models of upper crustal strain resulting from rifting. These and other studies will be integrated in order to develop a unified picture of rift development.