Long-term cooling history of the Albertine Rift : new evidence from the western rift shoulder, DR Congo

• To determine the long-term landscape evolution of the Albertine Rift in East Africa, low-temperature thermochronology was applied and the cooling history constrained using thermal history modelling. Acquired results reveal (1) old cooling ages, with predominantly Devonian to Carboniferous apatite fission-track ages, Ordovician to Silurian zircon (U-Th)/He ages and Jurassic to Cretaceous apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He ages; (2) protracted cooling histories of the western rift shoulder with major phases of exhumation in mid-Palaeozoic and Palaeogene to Neogene times; (3) low Palaeozoic and Neogene erosion rates. This indicates a long residence time of the analysed samples in the uppermost crust, with the current landscape surface at a near-surface position for hundreds of million years. Apatite He cooling ages and thermal history models indicate moderate reheating in Jurassic to Cretaceous times. Together with the cooling age distribution, a possible Albertine high with a distinct relief can be inferred that might have been a source area for the Congo Basin.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

East African Rift System

Albertine Rift

Low-temperature thermochronology

Apatite fission-track

Thermal history modelling

Long-term landscape evolution

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)