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Spectral Analysis of Gravity Data Using Spectral Analysis with Piecewise Regression (SAPR): Application to the Lake Turkana Rift, Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia

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Abstract

Geophysical methods are instrumental in characterizing lithospheric-scale heterogeneity beneath continental rifts and collisional zones. Seismic imaging techniques, in particular have played a significant role in imaging lithospheric discontinuities within the crust as well as its Moho boundary with the underlying sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). However, in geodynamic settings where there have been significant mafic magmatic underplating, the seismic Moho and the petrological Moho become distinct, making gravity methods more effective to image the compositional variation between the crust and the SCLM. Our work assesses one of the gravity modeling methods that can be applied to image the petrological Moho by introducing a new approach, which is referred to as the spectral analysis with piecewise regression (SAPR). To test the effectiveness of SAPR, we used the World Gravity Model 2012 (WGM 2012) to calculate the depth to the petrological Moho and the depth to the top of the Precambrian crystalline basement beneath the Lake Turkana rift within the East African Rift System in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Subsequently, the results of the Moho depths from the SAPR were compared with previous Moho depth estimates using other gravity methods as well as controlled-source seismic techniques.

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Data Availability

The gravity data used in this paper can be obtained from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The WGM 2012 data can be obtained from the Bureau Gravimetrique International (BGI; bgi.omp.obs.mip.fr). We would like to thank editor Carla Braitenberg, and two anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the paper. This is Oklahoma State University Boone Pickens School of Geology contribution number 2019-XXX.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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  1. Boone Pickens School of Geology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Luelseged Emishaw & Mohamed Abdelsalem

  2. Kleinfelder, 7805 Mesquite Bend, Irving, TX, 75063, USA

    Luelseged Emishaw

  3. Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, 65897, USA

    Kevin Mickus

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  1. Luelseged Emishaw
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design, read and approved the final manuscript. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by LE. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LE and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript.

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Emishaw, L., Mickus, K. & Abdelsalem, M. Spectral Analysis of Gravity Data Using Spectral Analysis with Piecewise Regression (SAPR): Application to the Lake Turkana Rift, Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. Pure Appl. Geophys. 180, 187–204 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-022-03210-w

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