2022 GEO at EAIFR Webinars

[Earth System Physics]

*2022 GEO at EAIFR Webinar Series*


The East African Institute for Fundamental Research (EAIFR) and the 
International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) wish to inform those 
who may be interested of a GEO at EAIFR webinar. This seminar will take 
place next week and will be broadcast live on ZOOM. It will also be 
recorded and later posted on the EAIFR YouTube channel. Below all the 
details:

Speaker: Professor Tanya Furman from the department of Geosciences, 
Pennsylvania State University, United States

Title: *Temporal and Geochemical Evolution of Africa’s Western Rift*

When: 16 March at 16h15 Kigali time / 15h15 Rome time

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMoc-Gopz0iE9CEzQaLsOyMCeAuc19WZPKQ
All are welcome.
for further information, do not hesitate to contact Catherine Meriaux 
(cmeriaux at eaifr.org)

Biography:

Tanya Furman is a Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State 
University. She served the University as Associate Vice President and 
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education from 2007-2017, focusing on 
the assessment of student learning and improving student success in 
gateway STEM courses. Her scientific research uses the geochemistry of 
lavas and their crystal cargo to understand the geodynamic evolution of 
the Earth’s mantle. Furman is also active in Geoscience Education 
Research, most recently exploring student learning around plate 
tectonics. She earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology in 1989 and has been on the faculty at the University of 
Virginia and Penn State since then. Her graduate students have moved on 
in careers in academe, industry and the private sector including the 
World Bank and Blue Origins.

Abstract:

The evolution of the East African Rift System (EARS) involves 
fundamental questions of plate tectonics: how do continents separate and 
reassemble over geologic time, how do we know this history, and why does 
it matter? The Western Rift, which follows the western boundary of the 
Tanzania craton, is distinguished from other sectors of the EARS by 
greater seismicity, less extension and less volumetric magmatism. These 
characteristics, as well as the distinctive alkaline geochemistry of the 
mafic volcanic products, provide important insights into continental 
plate tectonic processes. Four volcanic provinces define magmatism in 
the Western Rift: Toro Ankole, Virunga, Kivu and Rungwe. Early models 
called for progressive rifting southward from Afar over the past 30 Ma, 
but recognition of ~45 Ma volcanism at Turkana (Kenya) and increased 
high-precision dating of lavas throughout the EARS has revealed 
complexity in the rifting process and now suggests near-coeval 
initiation of both the Eastern and Western Rifts. The role of a mantle 
plume in Western Rift magmatism remains enigmatic, as geochemistry of 
young mafic lavas records melting of fluid- and melt-metasomatized veins 
distributed heterogeneously throughout the lithosphere rather than 
direct contributions from the deep mantle. Rift development appears to 
be associated with small-scale lithospheric removal through foundering 
and/or delamination, which carries important implications for regional 
geothermal and hydrothermal resource potential.