Volcanic and geochemical evolution of the Ethiopian Rift in East Africa

The Ethiopian rift exposes some of the most active and potentially hazardous but poorly understood volcanoes on Earth. Given our exceptionally detailed geophysical understanding of melt production in the asthenosphere and of crustal structure, the rift is an ideal place to understand spatial and temporal variations in magmatism, near-surface intrusion and volcanism in an active continental rift. The rift exposes different stages of rift development, resulting in wide geochemical diversity in the volcanic record, but these variations remain to be quantitatively assessed in time and space. The principal aim of this project is to fully integrate our understanding of petrological and geochemical variability across the rift to test hypotheses concerning the role of mantle plumes, depleted mantle and crustal assimilation and rift segmentation since rifting began roughly 30 million years ago. A focus will be in the northern Ethiopian rift from Aluto to Dofen volcanoes. The study will combine detailed fieldwork, remote sensing, geochronology, and high precision geochemical and isotopic techniques to address how major rift volcanoes evolve. This study of the Ethiopian rift will provide insights into other volcanoes where tectonic processes are critical to the rates and characteristics of volcanism.