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Perspectives on the ethiopian volcanic province

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Abstract

Published major-element analyses of Ethiopian volcanic rocks have been subjected to a systematic discriminant analysis. The plateau regions can be subdivided according to the proportions of alkaline and tholeiitic basalts. In northern Ethiopia, these subprovinces show increasing basalt alkalinity with time. The most voluminous basalts have lowest magnesium values, independent of the degree of alkalinity. Rift and Afar basalt chemistry falls within the spectrum observed for the plateau basalts, with no perceptible difference resulting from lithospheric attenuation beneath Afar. However, silicic volcanics of the Rift-Afar floor differ in bulk terms from those of the plateau margins in showing a stronger bias towards peralkalinity, and having higher Na/K values. Two particularly voluminous volcanic episodes have occurred in Ethiopia, dated at ?30–19 m.y. and 4.5–0 m.y. and which link well with one model for seafloor spreading in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Evidence for a mantle hotspot under Ethiopia remains ambiguous.

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    P. Mohr

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Mohr, P. Perspectives on the ethiopian volcanic province. Bull Volcanol 46, 23–43 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02598243

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