Articles | Volume 16, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-929-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-929-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Oct 2025
Research article |
| 07 Oct 2025
| 07 Oct 2025
Cross-scale strain analysis in the Afar rift (East Africa) from automatic fault mapping and geodesy
Alessandro La Rosa
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via S. Maria, 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Pauline Gayrin
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Sascha Brune
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Carolina Pagli
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via S. Maria, 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Ameha A. Muluneh
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Gianmaria Tortelli
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Florence, Italy
Derek Keir
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Florence, Italy
School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO16 3ZH, UK
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Short summary
We propose a new method to map faults automatically in digital elevation models (DEMs) and measure long-term crustal deformation in rift contexts. By combining our data with rock ages, we reconstruct rift evolution in Afar during the last 4.5 Myr. We show that the rift axis is most active, with rifting propagating north-west over time. Here magma promotes crustal deformation and faulting caused by dike opening. In the southern sector Afar, two fault systems respond to different motions of diverging tectonic plates.
We propose a new method to map faults automatically in digital elevation models (DEMs) and...
