| The Afar system is a unique place on Earth where a triple rift junction may be emerging. As the three rifts separating Arabia, Nubia and Somalia plates have not achieved a complete connection at present, I observe a 200 km wide area of complex surface deformation. A variety of extensional structures including a network of faults, fissures, dikes, and volcanic centers are collectively accommodating far field movement of the surrounding plates. Understanding the nature and distribution of the deformation over this vast region is critical since here I observe the transition between established oceanic ridges (the Red Sea and the Aden-Goubbet ridges) and continental deformation. In this study I use the technique of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) to analyze radar data of the Afar region, and to construct a 10 yr timeline of surface displacement over a 200 km by 400 km area. By combining data acquired from ascending and descending passes I construct a two-dimensional velocity maps of the region. The maps show localized extensional deformation across the Asal-Ghoubbet rift segment accommodating the diverging motion of the Arabia-Somalia plates, as well as regional uplift asymmetrically distributed north and south of the Asal Rift area. The vertical velocity map in the rift indicates subsidence of the rift floor with respect to the rift shoulders, accommodated by fault creep.;To interpret the observed velocity across the Asal rift I develop a 2-dimensional and a 3-dimensional dislocation model using a combination of dikes, sill and faults embedded in an elastic half space. The forward modeling allows me to place the overall geometry of sub-surface structures and estimate rates of dike and sill inflation, and fault movement. Then I construct a 3-dimensional model to perform a least-squares inversion of the radar-derived velocity maps. The results show an inflating body centered under the Fieale volcano expanding at a rate of 2 106 m3/yr. Faults bordering the rift show both down-dip and opening motion especially at their base where they connect with the inflating body. These findings suggest that the faults react passively to the pressurized magmatic system at depth, and contribute to plate accretion by taking up the injected material in the shallow part of the crust. The sustained process I currently witness in the Asal rift might be characteristic of the 'inter-crisis' state of a magmatic rift system where pressurized fluids accumulate at relatively shallow depth, eventually leading to lateral dike injection as during the seismo-magmatic crisis of 1978. |
