Episodic denudation in East Africa: A legacy of intracontinental tectonism

Physics

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Africa, Calcium Phosphates, Geochronology, Lithosphere, Plates (Tectonics), Cooling, Geomorphology, Particle Tracks

Scientific paper

Apatite fission-track data from samples collected over an altitude range of greater than 2.5 km in western and central Kenya reveal three elevation intervals where the apparent apatite age varies linearly with elevation. The mean ages of these intervals are 64 +/- 1 Ma, 112 +/- 2 Ma, and 180 +/- 6 Ma and they result from cooling of rocks below 110 +/- 10 C by erosional denudation. The form of the apatite age - elevation profile and forward modeling of the fission-track length distributions suggests that discrete periods of exhumation commenced at 70-75 Ma, 120-130 Ma, and greater than or equal to 220 Ma. These times correspond with periods of intracontinental deformation of the African lithosphere, including: the separation of Madagascar from East Africa, opening of the South Atlantic Ocean, and changes in the geometry of plate spreading in the South Atlantic.

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