Journal article
Influence of Rift Superposition on Lithospheric Response to East African Rift System Extension: Lapur Range, Turkana, Kenya
SC Boone, C Seiler, BP Kohn, AJW Gleadow, DA Foster, L Chung
Tectonics | AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION | Published : 2018
DOI: 10.1002/2017TC004575
Abstract
The Turkana Depression of northern Kenya lies at the intersection of the NW-SE trending late Mesozoic-early Paleogene South Sudan and Anza rifts and the N-S trending late Paleogene-Recent East African Rift System (EARS). A low-temperature thermochronology study in the Lapur Range reveals a complex tectonothermal evolution related to multiple periods of regional and local tectonism. Zircon (U-Th)/He data from Precambrian basement record rapid Early Cretaceous denudational cooling. Coeval subsidence in the adjacent Anza and South Sudan rifts (Morley, Bosworth, et al., 1999; Schull, 1988) suggests that the northern Turkana region acted as a basement high separating the grabens, as well as an ax..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We note that there are no datasharing issues since all numerical information is provided in the tables. Funding for this research was provided through Australian Research Council grant DP130101610. S. C. B. received additional support from the MIFRS and MIRS scholarships and the Baragwanath Geology Research Scholarship awarded by the University of Melbourne. The University of Melbourne Thermochronology Lab receives infrastructure support under the AuScope program of NCRIS. This work was carried out with permission of the Kenyan National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation under the terms of Research Permits NCSTI/P/13/4850/25 and NACOSTI/P/16/4850/13111. We would like to thank Christopher Nyamai and Daniel Ichang'i at the Department of Geology, University of Nairobi for their assistance in facilitating this project. The cooperation and hospitality of Richard and Meave Leakey, Francis Ekai, Moses Loparakuo Lenina, and other Turkana Basin Institute staff were critical in carrying out fieldwork for this project. Technical assistance by Abaz Alimanovic for (U-Th)/He and Graham Hutchinson for electron microprobe analyses are greatly appreciated. We thank Chris Morley for his valuable suggestions and insight into East African geology, as well as Ulrich A Glasmacher and Editor Nathan Niemi for their constructive and helpful reviews.