Geology and stratigraphy of Neogene deposits, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia

Kalb, Jon E.; Oswald, Elizabeth B.; Tebedge, Sleshi; Mebrate, Assefa; Tola, Emmanuel; Peak, Dennis

doi:10.1038/298017a0

Cited by 60 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This explanation is an extension of Kalb et al's (1982) proposal that the Hadar Formation generally reflects a northeastwards migration of the Awash deposystem from the Middle Awash region during the Pliocene. Such a translation would have a similar effect as described by Yemane (1997), increasing the gradient between the western margin and the depocenter, and could have occurred with or without coeval uplift along the Ethiopian Escarpment.…”

Section: Cyclicity In the Hadar Sedimentary Recordsupporting

confidence: 64%

Connecting local environmental sequences to global climate patterns: evidence from the hominin-bearing Hadar Formation, Ethiopia

Campisano

Feibel

2007

Journal of Human Evolution

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Section: Cyclicity In the Hadar Sedimentary Recordsupporting

confidence: 64%

Connecting local environmental sequences to global climate patterns: evidence from the hominin-bearing Hadar Formation, Ethiopia

Campisano

Feibel

2007

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…Fluviolacustrine sediments fill peripheral basins at the foot of the western and southern Afar escarpment along the Middle Awash valley (e.g., Woramso/ Mille, Hadar, Kesem/Kebena, and Chorora sub-basins). Kalb et al (1982) include these continental sediments under the Late Miocene to Pleistocene Awash Group which is more than 1,000 m thick. Main lithological components are shales, sands, pebbles, and diatomites with intercalated ash layers and basalt flows (Fig.…”

Section: The Afar Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Information on the sedimentary successions of the Afar and Danakil Alps regions was produced by Vinassa de Regny (1931), Bannert et al (1970), Tiercelin et al (1980), Kalb et al (1982), and Bosworth et al (2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology of Ethiopia: A Review and Geomorphological Perspectives

Abbate

Bruni

Sagri

2015

World Geomorphological Landscapes

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The Ethiopian region records about one billion years of geological history. The first event was the closure of the Mozambique ocean between West and East Gondwana with the development of the Ethiopian basement ranging in age from 880 to 550 Ma. This folded and tilted Proterozoic basement underwent intense erosion, which lasted one hundred million years, and destroyed any relief of the Precambrian orogen. Ordovician to Silurian fluviatile sediments and Late Carboniferous to Early Permian glacial deposits were laid down above an Early Paleozoic planation surface. The beginning of the breakup of Gondwana gave rise to the Jurassic flooding of the Horn of Africa with a marine transgression from the Paleotethys and the Indian/Madagascar nascent ocean. After this Jurassic transgression and deposition of Cretaceous continental deposits, the Ethiopian region was an exposed land for a period of about seventy million years during which a new important peneplanation surface developed. Concomitant with the first phase of the rifting of the Afro/Arabian plate, a prolific outpouring of the trap flood basalts took place predominantly during the Oligocene over a peneplained land surface of modest elevation. In the northern Ethiopian plateau, huge Miocene shield volcanoes were superimposed on the flood basalts. Following the end of the Oligocene, the volcanism shifted toward the Afar depression, which was experiencing a progressive stretching, and successively moved between the southern Ethiopian plateau and the Somali plateau in correspondence with the formation of the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). The detachment of the Danakil block and Arabian subcontinent from the Nubian plate resulted in steep marginal escarpments marked by flexure and elongated sedimentary basins. Additional basins developed in the Afar depression and MER in connection with new phases of stretching. Many of these basins have yielded human remains crucial for reconstructing the first stages of human evolution. A full triple junction was achieved in the Early Pliocene when the MER penetrated into the Afar region, where the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea rifts were already moving toward a connection via the volcanic ranges of northern Afar. The present-day morphology of Ethiopia is linked to the formation of the Afar depression, MER, and Ethiopian plateaus. These events are linked to the impingement of one or more mantle plumes under the Afro-Arabian plate. The elevated topography of the Ethiopian plateaus is the result of profuse volcanic accumulation and successive uplift. This new highland structure brought about a reorganization of the East Africa river network and a drastic change in the atmospheric circulation.

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“…This is the Awash Group and dates from Miocene to late Pleistocene (Kalb et al 1982b). It has yielded rich vertebrate faunas, fossil hominids and Acheulian or Oldowan artefacts at several places (Kalb et al 1980;Kalb et al 1982a;Clark et al 1984). The lower levels of this Awash Group include the Ch'orora Formation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

The Pliocene Hadar Formation, Afar depression of Ethiopia

Tiercelin

1986

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Summary Along the western margin of the Afar depression there is a fluvio-lacustrine sequence, well known for its hominid fossils, which consists of a 150–300 m thick layer of coarse to fine detrital sediments with interbedded pyroclastics and basalt. This series, deposited between at least 4.2 and 2.4 Ma, is called the Hadar Formation. Sedimentary and microfossil evidence allows the reconstruction of sedimentary, volcano-tectonic and climatic events in the evolution of the Hadar basin. During 1.8 Ma, the palaeogeography of the Hadar region appears to have been an intricate succession of fluvial, marshy and lacustrine environments, subject to rapid lake-level fluctuations and a wide range of hydrological conditions. Tectonic activity is confined to subsidence. However, important vertical movements of the western escarpment occur towards the end of the sedimentary succession in the Hadar basin.

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Geology and stratigraphy of Neogene deposits, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia

Cited by 60 publications

References 17 publications

Connecting local environmental sequences to global climate patterns: evidence from the hominin-bearing Hadar Formation, Ethiopia

Connecting local environmental sequences to global climate patterns: evidence from the hominin-bearing Hadar Formation, Ethiopia

Geology of Ethiopia: A Review and Geomorphological Perspectives

The Pliocene Hadar Formation, Afar depression of Ethiopia

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