Persistent fault controlled basin formation since the Proterozoic along the Western Branch of the East African Rift

Abstract

The Western Branch of the East African Rift System is outlined by elongate sedimentary basins, frequently occupied by Cenozoic rift lakes. The role of the inheritance of the leading rift faults from pre-existing basement structures has often been invoked. Recent studies in western Tanzania confirm the extent of the northwest orientated Palaeoproterozoic Ubende Belt contribution to the Phanerozoic Rift. Attention is drawn here on the occurrence of different Meso- and Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins that developed along the ductile shear belt as a result of repeated sinistral wrench fault reactivation. These basins partly overlap each other and typically bear shallow and weakly evolved sediments. North of the Ubende Belt, the Mesoproterozoic Kibara Belt is inferred to have originated as a basin controlled by the complex termination of the Ubende wrench fault. Phanerozoic rift basins also develop along the northwest orientated Ubende Belt structure. They display the same elongate shape as the Proterozoic basins. In Late Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic the Karoo rift basins formed from a dextral lateral shear reactivation of the inherited Proterozoic shear faults. During the first phase of development the Lake Tanganyika Basin is belived to bear the same characteristics as all previous basins along the Ubende Shear Belt, mainly controlled by strike-slip movements along pre-existing shear faults. The present Lake Tanganyika Basin is subdivided in two sub-basins, separated by the transverse Mahali Shoal, which is an active structure located on the Ubende Shear. The deep lake basin mainly developed outside the Ubende Belt. The northern sub-basin appears to be structurally controlled by the reactivation of the Mesoproterozoic sinistral wrench fault termination of the Ubende shear faults. Structural control of the Palaeoproterozoic basement is however unclear for the southern sub-basin of Lake Tanganyika: this part of the rift segment is flanked by Palaeoproterozoic basement which has not been affected by the Ubende Shear.