Tectonics and climate: impacts on the evolution of fluvio -...
Transcript of Tectonics and climate: impacts on the evolution of fluvio -...
Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Potsdam Berkeley Geochronology Center *
University of Nairobi** Geothermal Development Company of Kenya***
Tectonics and climate: impacts on the evolution of fluvio - lacustrine environments in
the Kenya Rift
Manfred R. Strecker *Alan Deino
Yannick Garcin Daniel Melnick **Lydia Olaka
***Peter Omenda Veronica Torres
Martin Trauth
(I) Tertiary and Early Pleistocene basins may have repeatedly hosted large lakes – vestiges are limited
(II) Oblique extension and magmatic processes in Central Kenya Rift have compartmentalized the rift, ultimately causing disparate sedimentary environments (III) Holocene lake-highstands caused fluvial connectivity between isolated basins and left shorelines that can be used to quantify extension on 103yr timescales (IV) CRN erosion rates document that transitional environments are important in forcing erosion during climate change
Key topics
Co
mp
ilatio
n o
f Ke
nya
n g
eo
log
yBa
ker e
t a
l., 1
988;
Ge
ol.
Surv
ey
of K
en
ya, 1
989
(I) Early sedimentary basins – we don’t know much
Basement anisotropies, fracture propagation and basins
Hetzel & Strecker, 1991, J. Structural Geology
Kerio sediments Kabarnet trachytes Uasin Gishu phonolites Tambach sediments Marble Gneiss Granulite
2 km
Stamps et al., 2008 GRL
(II) Pleistocene basins in central Kenya: changing obliquity of plate-slip vectors along the rift
En échelon zones of extension and semi-independent basins
91±2
60±2
88±493±3
107±4
113±2
146±2161±4
176±2
322±20
92±5
59±4
72.7±1.873±381±4
108±7
Presentlake level ±0
+5
-5
-20
-15
-25
-35
-30
-40
-50
-45
-55
-60
Change frompresent lake level
(m)
40Ar/39Arages(kyr)
TuffsSiltstone bedsDiatomitesFluvial depositsVolcanic rocks
141±3
Decreasing alkalinity
Fresh glassSm
ectitesC
habaziteC
linoptiloliteAnalcim
eSubarial
III
II
I
IV
V
Trauth & Strecker, 2000, E African Lakes; Trauth et al., 2002, Geology; Trauth et al., 2005, Science
A. Bergner et al., 2009, Quat. Sci. Reviews
Contrasting sedimentary environments: orographic barriers, volcano-structural barriers, and forcing of fluvial networks
Bergner et al., 2009, Quat. Sci. Rev., V. Torres, ongoing PhD work
Oblique slip along border faults: earthquakes with ground ruptures Subukia M 6.9 earthquake in 1928 Alluvial fan and landslide deposits at escarpments
Zielke & Strecker, 2009, Bull. Seism. Soc. America
(III) Holocene rift-normal extension in N Kenya and the ups and downs of lakes
during the African Humid Period (AHP)
Paleo lake levels during the AHP present-day lakes
Ethiopian! Plateau! East African!
Plateau!
N S
modified after Junginger, 2012, PhD thesis U Potsdam
Melnick et al., 2012, EPSL; Garcin et al., 2012, EPSL
Strecker, Melnick & Olago, work in progress
Owen et al., 1982, Nature; Garcin et al. 2009, Quat. Sci. Rev.; Garcin et al., 2012, EPSL; Junginger, 2012, PhD thesis, Potsdam
Present-day lakes
Overflow sill
Rivers
250 50 km
Late Pleistocene-early Holocene lakes
Turkana basin (148 586 km2)
Suguta basin(13 035 km2)
Baringo-Bogoria basin (8005 km2)
Lobat Gap
Kamuge
Ker
io R
iver
36°E 37°E
0°
1°N
2°N
Sugu
ta R
iver
Protracted lake-highstand and formation of shoreline during
African Humid Period – an ideal marker to assess tectonism
Melnick et al., 2012, EPSL
Stamps et al., 2008, GRL
Linking different timescales of extension
(IV) Were these humid periods characterized by greater erosivity, sediment production, and mass transfer?
Erosion rates in different precipitation/vegetation compartments: effects of vegetation on cosmogenic nuclice (10Be,26Al)
basin-wide erosion rates
Veronica Torres, PhD thesis in preparation, Potsdam University
Below vegetation threshold
Above vegetation threshold
Slide showing shifting climate and vegetation
(IV) Can we learn about past humid episodes and sediment production from climate modeling?
IPCC 2007 Synthesis Report Drier Wetter
Predicted changes in annual runoff, 2090-2099 compared to 1980-1999
(0)( ) PN tρε
λ=
+Λ
Anima'on by Kevin Norton 2010
Basin-wide erosion rates using CRN (10Be, 26Al)
Concentration of nuclides (N (t)) and erosion rate (ɛ) are inversely related:
Cosmic rays
• GPS measurements agree with long-term extension
rate (3.2 Ma) and geologic rates
• Kinematic model predicts
~4 mm/a of extension in North Kenya between
Victoria and Somalia plates
• Strain localized along narrow rift zone that isolates
large lithospheric blocks
• Oblique rifting generates en échelon zones of
extension
Stamps et al., 2008 GRL
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