Physics
Scientific paper
May 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002e%26psl.198..289u&link_type=abstract
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 198, Issue 3-4, p. 289-306.
Physics
32
Scientific paper
40Ar/39Ar dating of mineral separates and whole-rock samples of rhyolitic ignimbrites and basaltic lavas from the pre- and syn-rift flood volcanic units of northern Ethiopia provides a temporal link between the Ethiopian and Yemen conjugate rifted volcanic margins. Sixteen new 40Ar/39Ar dates confirm that basaltic flood volcanism in Ethiopia was contemporaneous with flood volcanism on the conjugate margin in Yemen. The new data also establish that flood volcanism initiated prior to 30.9 Ma in Ethiopia and may predate initiation of similar magmatic activity in Yemen by ~0.2-2.0 Myr. Rhyolitic volcanism in Ethiopia commenced at 30.2 Ma, contemporaneous with the first rhyolitic ignimbrite unit in Yemen at ~30 Ma. Accurate and precise 40Ar/39Ar dates on initial rhyolitic ignimbrite eruptions suggest that silicic flood volcanism in Afro-Arabia post-dates the Oligocene Oi2 global cooling event, ruling out a causative link between these explosive silicic eruptions (with individual volumes >=200 km3) and climatic cooling which produced the first major expansion of the Antarctic ice sheets. Ethiopian volcanism shows a progressive and systematic younging from north to south along the escarpment and parallel to the rifted margin, from pre-rift flood volcanics in the north to syn-rift northern Main Ethiopian Rift volcanism in the south. A dramatic decrease in volcanic activity in Ethiopia between 25 and 20 Ma correlates with a prominent break-up unconformity in Yemen (26-19 Ma), both of which mark the transition from pre- to syn-rift volcanism (~25-26 Ma) triggered by the separation of Africa and Arabia. The architecture of the Ethiopian margin is characterized by accumulation and preservation of syn-rift volcanism, while the Yemen margin was shaped by denudational unloading and magmatic starvation as the Arabian plate rifted away from the Afar plume. A second magmatic hiatus and angular unconformity in the northern Main Ethiopian Rift is evident at 10.6-3.2 Ma, and is also observed throughout the Arabian plate in Jordanian, Saudi Arabian and Yemeni intraplate volcanic fields and is possibly linked to tectonic re-organization and initiation of sea floor spreading in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea at 10 and 5 Ma, respectively.
Ayalew Dereje
Baker Joel
Menzies Martin M.
Renne Paul R.
Ukstins Ingrid A.
No associations
LandOfFree
Matching conjugate volcanic rifted margins: 40Ar/39Ar chrono-stratigraphy of pre- and syn-rift bimodal flood volcanism in Ethiopia and Yemen does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Matching conjugate volcanic rifted margins: 40Ar/39Ar chrono-stratigraphy of pre- and syn-rift bimodal flood volcanism in Ethiopia and Yemen, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Matching conjugate volcanic rifted margins: 40Ar/39Ar chrono-stratigraphy of pre- and syn-rift bimodal flood volcanism in Ethiopia and Yemen will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1514083