Date of Award

Fall 12-2011

Degree Type

Thesis-Restricted

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Geology

Department

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Major Professor

Gani M Royhan

Second Advisor

Gani Nahid DS

Third Advisor

Georgiou Ioannis Y.

Abstract

The Ethiopian Plateau is one of the few tectonically-active regions on Earth that is situated in continental rift zones. About 1.6 km deep gorge of the Nile was carved by the Blue Nile River on the Ethiopian Plateau, as the plateau has been experiencing continuous uplift and exhumation in the Cenozoic. Here, we used quantitative analysis of longitudinal rive-profile forms and parameters (knickpoint and normalized steepness-index ksn) of the Blue Nile tributaries to tease out regional tectonic signals.

244 knickpoints were examined in the tributaries, majority (>80%) of which are unassociated with lithology or geological structures. Knickpoint distribution throughout the plateau reveals three incision phases. The novel approach of correlation of ksn with mantle tomography suggests that higher and lower ksn values occur above low-velocity and high-velocity zones, respectively, indicating that thermal upwelling beneath the plateau linked to Afar mantle plume largely controls the uplift thus incision of the plateau.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

Download

Share

COinS