Role of Lithospheric Buoyancy Forces in Driving Deformation in East Africa From 3D Geodynamic Modeling

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dc.contributor.authorRajaonarison, Tahiry A.en
dc.contributor.authorStamps, D. Sarahen
dc.contributor.authorNaliboff, Johnen
dc.contributor.departmentGeosciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-30T17:13:24Zen
dc.date.available2021-07-30T17:13:24Zen
dc.date.issued2021-03-28en
dc.description.abstractDespite decades of investigation, the origin of forces driving continental rifting remains highly debated. Deciphering their relative contributions is challenging due to the nonlinear and depth-dependent nature of lithospheric rheology. Recent geodynamic studies of the East African Rift (EAR) report contradicting results regarding the relative contribution of horizontal mantle tractions and lithospheric buoyancy forces. Here, we use high-resolution 3D regional numerical modeling of the EAR to isolate the contribution lithospheric buoyancy forces to observed deformation. Modeled surface velocities closely match kinematic models of the Somalian Plate, Victoria Block, and Rovuma Block motions, but provide poor fit to along-rift surface motions in deforming zones. These results suggest that lithospheric buoyancy forces primarily drive present-day similar to E-W extension across the EAR, but intrarift deformation may result from viscous coupling to horizontal asthenospheric flow.en
dc.description.notesThis work was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) GeoPRISMS grant EAR-1551864. The authors would like to thank the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics for supporting the development of ASPECT, which is funded by NSF Awards EAR-0949446 and EAR-1550901. They also thank Alexander Koptev for a constructure review that improved this manuscript.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation (NSF)National Science Foundation (NSF) [EAR-1551864]; NSFNational Science Foundation (NSF) [EAR-0949446, EAR-1550901]en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090483en
dc.identifier.eissn1944-8007en
dc.identifier.issn0094-8276en
dc.identifier.issue6en
dc.identifier.othere2020GL090483en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/104459en
dc.identifier.volume48en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectEast African Riften
dc.subjectgeodynamicsen
dc.subjectgravitational potential energyen
dc.subjectlithospheric buoyancy forcesen
dc.subjectlithospheric deformationen
dc.subjectsurface motionen
dc.titleRole of Lithospheric Buoyancy Forces in Driving Deformation in East Africa From 3D Geodynamic Modelingen
dc.title.serialGeophysical Research Lettersen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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