White Nile rift

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Rifts in Sudan and Kenya Central African Rifts.svg
Rifts in Sudan and Kenya

The White Nile rift is one of several rifts in central Sudan running in a NW direction and terminating in the Central African Shear Zone. The rift is a Cretaceous/Tertiary structure that has similar tectonic characteristics to the Southern Sudan Rift, Blue Nile rift and Atbara rift. [1] These rifts follow similar trends, and terminate in a line at their northwestern ends. Probably this line is an extension of the Central African Shear Zone through the Sudan. [2]

The rift basin is formed by the junction of the Umm Rubaba grabens, which extends in a NW direction, and the White Nile graben, which extends in a N to NW direction. [3] The basin is filled with sediments and igneous rocks, and is a target for oil and gas exploration. [4] The rift basins appear to be hydrologically closed, with no lateral transfer of water. [5] One theory is that the current White Nile may have developed no more than 12,500 years ago when the basins filled and the rivers became connected. [6]

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Kutai Basin

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White Sea Rift System

The White Sea Rift System is a complex of rifts manifested as numerous individual grabens located chiefly in the White Sea but including onshore areas and a strip of the Barents Sea. The rifts run in a subparallel manner from northwest to southeast where the rift system continues under the East European Platform. The system or complex originated due to extensional tectonics acting during the Middle to Late Riphean in the Proterozoic. This tectonic environment is believed to have been related to the break-up of the ancient supercontinent Palaeopangea. During the Riphean the graben structures were filled by Jotnian sediments. During the Middle Paleozoic the rift system was reactivated resulting in intrusion of alkaline magmas. In the Late Cenozoic the rift system was reactivated again resulting in the formation of the modern White Sea.

References

  1. S.E. Browne, J.D. Fairhead and I.I. Mohamed (10 March 1985). "Gravity study of the White Nile Rift, Sudan, and its regional tectonic setting". Tectonophysics . 113 (1–2): 123–137. Bibcode:1985Tectp.113..123B. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(85)90113-1.
  2. Robert Bowen, Ulrich Jux (1987). Afro-Arabian geology: a kinematic view. Springer. p. 143. ISBN   0-412-29700-0.
  3. Richard C. Selley (1997). African basins. Elsevier. p. 115. ISBN   0-444-82571-1.
  4. "Rocks for crops: Sudan" (PDF). University of Guelph. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  5. O. A. E. Abdalla. "Evapotranspiration computed by Darcy's Law: Sudan case study" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  6. Terje Tvedt (2004). The Nile: an annotated bibliography. I.B.Tauris. ISBN   1-86064-879-7.