The deep electrical structure of the Great Glen Fault, Scotland

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Heterogeneous crust and upper mantle across southern Kenya and the ralationship to surface deformation as inferred from magnetotelluric imaging

We have used magnetotelluric data imaging to determine the resistivity structure across southern Kenya and our results suggest the presence of a buckled blocky or segmented lithosphere across the region. Prominent steep conductive zones at the Oloololo (OLO) escarpment and eastern rift margin allow us to subdivide the region into three crustal domains. West of OLO, a bow-shaped conductor underlies a 10 km thick resistive upper crustal unit spatially correlating with an exposed Archaean greenstone belt. Between OLO and the eastern rift margin are found steeply dipping alternating conductive and resistive zones that appear buckled. East of this belt are found prominent, 5 to 20 km deep, subhorizontal conductors atop steep resistive blocks with flanking conductors. The main steep features in the crust appear to extend below the seismic Moho and thus suggest the presence of anomalously thick crust across the region. A 50 km-wide and 4-8 km deep w-shaped (double half-graben) structure is suggested at the position of the Kenyan rift. We show that our inferred lateral zoning is consistent with collocated gravity and seismic measurements. We propose a link between the deep resistivity heterogeneity and surface deformation pattern in the area. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union

Magnetotelluric images of the crustal structure of Chyulu Hills volcanic field, Kenya.

Electromagnetic experiments were conducted in 1995 as part of a multidisciplinary research project to investigate the deep structure of the Chyulu Hills volcanic chain on the eastern flank of the Kenya Rift in East Africa. Transient electromagnetic (TEM) and broadband (120–0.0001 Hz) magnetotelluric (MT) soundings were made at eight stations along a seismic survey line and the data were processed using standard techniques. The TEM data provided effective correction for static shifts in MT data. The MT data were inverted for the structure in the upper 20 km of the crust using a 2-D inversion scheme and a variety of starting models. The resulting 2-D models show interesting features but the wide spacing between the MT stations limited model resolution to a large extent. These models suggest that there are significant differences in the physical state of the crust between the northern and southern parts of the Chyulu Hills volcanic field. North of the Chyulu Hills, the resistivity structure consists of a 10–12-km-thick resistive (up to 4000 Ω m) upper crustal layer, ca. 10-km-thick mid-crustal layer of moderate resistivity (50 Ω m), and a conductive substratum. The resistive upper crustal unit is considerably thinner over the main ridge (where it is ca. 2 km thick) and further south (where it may be up to 5 km thick). Below this cover unit, steep zones of low resistivity (0.01–10 Ω m) occur underneath the main ridge and at its NW and SE margins (near survey positions 100 and 150–210 km on seismic line F of Novak et al. [Novak, O., Prodehl, C., Jacob, A.W.B., Okoth, W., 1997. Crustal structure of the southern flank of the Kenya Rift deduced from wide-angle P-wave data. In: Fuchs, K., Altherr, R., Muller, B., Prodehl, C. (Eds.), Structure and Dynamic Processes in the Lithosphere of the Afro-Arabian Rift System. Tectonophysics, vol. 278, 171–186]). These conductors appear to be best developed in upper crustal (1–8 km) and middle crustal (9–18 km) zones in the areas affected by volcanism. The low-resistivity anomalies are interpreted as possible magmatic features and may be related to the low-velocity zones recently detected at greater depth in the same geographic locations. The MT results, thus, provide a necessary upper crustal constraint on the anomalous zone in Chyulu Hills, and we suggest that MT is a logical compliment to seismics for the exploration of the deep crust in this volcanic-covered basement terrain. A detailed 3-D field study is recommended to gain a better understanding of the deep structure of the volcanic field