Fossil plate boundaries in West Africa and their bearing on seismotectonics

Abstract

Examines the relationship between earthquake epicentres and the existence of fossil plate boundaries in West Africa. Several suture zones in the region have been identified and mapped using geological and geophysical methods, and many of them appear parallel to, or correlate with, recognizable paleo-rift and paleo-compressional zones within and adjacent to the West African craton. The indications are that the distribution of earthquakes and suture zones in space and time could be the best available index to the location of future damaging earthquakes. -from Authors