Thermal variations in the gregory rift of southern Kenya (?)

Abstract

A compilation of thermal and seismic data collected over the last sixty years allows one to infer that tectonic phenomena and heat emanation could be linked in an oscillatory mode up and down the Kenyan part of the East African Rift. The seismic period is approximately 20–30 years during which time the loci of maximum intensity earthquakes move in a rhythmic pattern from south to north and back to south. Temperatures measured from hot springs also fluctuate over this time span increasing or decreasing in different sections of the rift.Spatial variations were measured by infrared radiometers from low altitude aircraft or high-altitude satellites. These reveal that individual thermal springs ranging from 35°C to 80°C, warm up greater than 5 km2 of the lake bottom of Magadi (only a slightly active thermal region which, however, yields greater then 300 MW). The heated area is large enough to detect by satellite imagery, making it possible to monitor the heat budget and flux over time and relate it to tectonic activity in the rift.