Collaborative Research: Exploring Extensional Tectonics Beyond the Ethiopian Rift

在大陆裂谷系研究中，通常认为岩石圈变形与裂谷的地表表现具有相似的尺度和空间一致性。然而，努比亚和索马里之间正在进行的大陆延伸似乎局限于一个狭窄的裂谷带（埃塞俄比亚主裂谷），仅在最薄的弹性地壳盖上。在较深的下地壳和地幔岩石圈中，非常弱的物质似乎能够以较低的应变速率适应长长度尺度的粘性拉伸，从而导致高度依赖于深度的拉伸。这种可能性很重要，因为它挑战了对大陆裂谷作用的现有理解，并为研究非均质流变学对大陆力学的影响提供了机会。虽然许多人对埃塞俄比亚主裂谷进行了研究，但以前的努力都没有远远超出裂谷带，以提供该地区的概要视图。因此，没有足够的现有数据来测试埃塞俄比亚高地或索马里地台的分布变形。该项目将大孔径GPS网络和大孔径宽带地震仪阵列与数值模拟相结合，以表征埃塞俄比亚主裂谷周围岩石圈内的横向和垂直变形模式。板块构造理论把大陆分裂作为其基本原理之一。在过去，大陆块体既合并又破裂，但目前还不清楚大陆分裂是如何随着时间和空间的推移而进行的，除了一般的推断，这种分裂在非均质大陆物质中一定是非常可变的。东非地区是断裂大陆的最佳范例，但它主要是在大裂谷中进行研究，忽略了裂谷以外的任何重要过程。这次实验对大陆分裂有了更广阔的视野，不仅研究了表面裂谷，还研究了裂谷之外的变形。这些结果对了解板块构造过程和大陆的基本性质具有潜在的科学意义。研究结果还将有助于绘制新的地热能资源、地震和火山灾害以及非洲高山和高原的起伏图。

Research in continental rift systems commonly assumes that lithospheric deformation has a similar scale to and is spatially coincident with the surface expression of rifting. However, ongoing continental extension between Nubia and Somalia appears localized to a narrow rift zone (the Main Ethiopian Rift) only in the thin elastic uppermost crustal lid. At greater depths in both the lower crust and mantle lithosphere, very weak materials appear to accommodate extension by viscous stretching over long length scales at lower strain rates, resulting in highly depth-dependent stretching. This possibility is important because it challenges existing understanding of continental rifting and provides an opportunity to investigate the implications of heterogeneous rheology for continental mechanics. Although the Main Ethiopian Rift has been studied with many, none of the previous efforts have extended far beyond the rift zone to provide a synoptic view of the region. Therefore, no existing data suffice to test for distributed deformation in the Ethiopian Highlands or the Somali Platform. This project combines a large-aperture GPS network and a large-aperture broadband seismometer array with numerical modeling to characterize the lateral and vertical deformation patterns within the lithosphere surrounding the Main Ethiopian Rift.The theory of plate tectonics includes continental breakup as one of its fundamental principles. In the past, continental masses have both coalesced and fractured but it is unclear how continental breakup progresses over space and time, aside from general inferences that this breakup must be very variable in heterogeneous continental materials. The East African region is the best ongoing example of a fracturing continent, but it has mostly been studied in the great rift valleys, omitting any important processes extending beyond the rift. This experiment takes a broader view of continental breakup, studying not only surface rifting, but also deformation far beyond the rift. The results have potential scientific implications for the general understanding of plate tectonics processes and of the fundamental properties of the continents. The results will also help map new geothermal energy resources, earthquake and volcano hazards, and the rise and fall of high mountains and plateaus in Africa.