US-Ethiopia Coopertive Research: Geomagnetic Paleointensity Studies of Reversal Volcanic Sequences Recorded in the Central Afar Depression, Ethiopia

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9906221Herrero-Bervera This award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Dr. Emilio Herrero-Bervera, of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Dr. Tesfaye Kidane, of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.The Afar Triangle, which lies at the junction of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Ethiopian rifts, has experienced some recent eruptions that have exposed thick sequences of lava flows. There are few available lava records of younger (Plio-Pleistocene) field reversals from the African continent, and these lava flows have the potential of providing detailed records of those reversals. The researchers will collect samples in the Gamarri section in the Central Afar Depression for their study of the paleointensity of the Reunion reversals. They will also study the magnetostratigraphy of the Olduvai reversal recorded in the same section. The collaboration combines Dr. Herrero-Bervera's expertise in geomagnetism with Dr. Kidane's understanding of the volcanics of Ethiopia.Results are expected to provide detailed records of the reversals that define the Reunion and Olduvai normal polarity subchrons. This new information will be a significant contribution to the current knowledge about paleointensity over geologic time.The Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences are jointly providing funding for this project.