Dynamic topography of Central and Southern Africa

• Main Author: Rogers, Eloise Peppard
• Other Authors: Jones, Stephen
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of Geology 2009
• Subjects: Geology; Ph.D; Ph.D. Trinity College Dublin; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2262/78182

Africa’s basin and swell topography is thought to be dynamically supported by mantle convection because it correlates closely with long wavelength free-air gravity anomalies, which can be regarded as a proxy for the convective pattern. Seismic tomographic studies reveal a region of slow seismic velocity beneath sub-equatorial Africa. This region broadly correlates with a zone of anomalously high elevation, known as the African Superswell, that stretches from the South Atlantic Ocean across Africa to Afar. More recently temporal parameters such as uplift rate have been considered in dynamic topography modeling. However, theoretical predictions of dynamic topography have not been carefully tested against observations. TARA (Trinity’s Access to Research Archive) has a robust takedown policy. Please contact us if you have any concerns: [e-mail]