Propagating rifts: the roles of crustal damage and ascending mantle fluids

Abstract

We investigate the upper-crustal structure of the Rukwa–Tanganyika rift zone in East Africa, where the Tanganyika rift interacts with the Rukwa and Mweru-Wantipa rift tips, evidenced by prominent fault scarps and seismicity across the rift interaction zones. We invert earthquake P-wave and S-wave travel times to produce 3D upper-crustal velocity models for the region and perform seismicity cluster analysis to understand strain accommodation in rift interaction zones and at the propagating rift tips. The resulting models reveal the occurrence of anomalously high Vp/Vs (primary-to-secondary wave velocity) ratios in the upper crust beneath the Rukwa and Mweru-Wantipa rift tips – regions with basement exposures and sparse rift sedimentation. We detect distinct earthquake families within the deeper clusters which exhibit a temporal evolution pattern characterized by an upward linear trend that suggests triggering caused by upward fluid migration and creep failure. A spatial transition from proximal tip zones dominated by a thinned crust and through-going crustal and upper-mantle seismicity to distal tip zones with a thick crust and dominantly upper-crustal seismicity indicates an along-axis variation in the controls on rift tip deformation. Overall, the collocation of basement faulting, crustal and upper-mantle seismicity, and high upper-crustal Vp/Vs ratios suggests a mechanically weakened crust at the rift tips, likely accommodated by brittle damage from crustal-bending strain and thermomechanical alteration via ascending fluids (mantle-sourced volatiles and hydrothermal fluids). These findings provide new insights into the physics of the propagation, linkage, and coalescence of continental rift tips – a necessary ingredient for initiating continental-breakup axes.