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Science 8 November 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5033, pp. 839 - 842
DOI: 10.1126/science.254.5033.839
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Articles

Structural Control of Flank Volcanism in Continental Rifts

MICHAEL ELLIS 1 and GEOFFREY KING 2

1 Center for Earthquake Research and Information, Memphis, TN 38152
2 Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Many volcanoes emerge from the flank (footwall) of normal faults in continental rift zones. Because such locations are commonly topographically high and exhibit minor compressional structures, the association is enigmatic. A simple flexing plate model shows that deformation of a flexurally supported upper crust during normal faulting generates a dilational strain field in the footwall at the base of the crust. This strain field allows cracking and tapping of preexisting melt.

Submitted on June 3, 1991
Accepted on July 31, 1991


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Plume-Lithosphere Interaction and the Origin of Continental Rift-related Alkaline Volcanism--the Chyulu Hills Volcanic Province, Southern Kenya.
A. SPATH, A. P. LE ROEX, and N. OPIYO-AKECH (2001)
J. Petrology 42, 765-787
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Orientation of absolute African plate motion revealed by tomomorphometric analysis of the Ethiopian dome.
(2000)
Geology 28, 1147-1149
The Little Skull Mountain, Nevada, earthquake of 29 June 1992: Aftershock focal mechanisms and tectonic stress field implications.
S. C. Harmsen (1994)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 84, 1484-1505
   Abstract »    PDF »
Structural Processes at Slow-Spreading Ridges.
J. C. Mutter, J. C. Mutter, and J. A. Karson (1992)
Science 257, 627-634
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)