Abstract
A compilation of new and existing gravity data, as well as geophysical and geological data, is used to assess the cumulative effects of multiple rifting episodes on crustal and upper mantle density structures beneath the Uganda-Kenya-Ethiopia-Sudan border region. This compilation includes new gravity and geological data collected in 1990 in south-western Ethiopia. Variations in the trends and amplitudes of Bouguer gravity anomalies reveal three overlapping rift systems: Mesozoic, Paleogene and Miocene-Recent. Each of these rift systems is a number of 40–100 km long sedimentary basins, and each system is approximately 1000 km long. The Bouguer anomaly patterns indicate that the Ethiopian and East African plateaux and corresponding gravity anomalies are discrete tectonic features. Models of structural and gravity profiles of two basins (Omo and Chew Bahir basins) suggest that pre-Oligocene (Cretaceous?) strata underlie 3 km or more of Neogene-Recent strata within the northern Kenya rift, and that more than 2 km of Neogene-Recent strata underlie parts of the southern Main Ethiopian rift. The superposition of perhaps three rifting episodes in the Lake Turkana (Omo) region has led to 90% crustal thinning (β ≈ 2).
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