The Wonji Fault Belt (Main Ethiopian Rift): structural and geomorphological constraints and GPS monitoring

The Wonji Fault Belt (WFB), Main Ethiopian Rift, forms a network of faults oriented NNE-SSW with a Quaternary direction of extension oriented c. N95° E. Faults are spaced between 0.5 and 2 km, show a fresh steep scarp, recent activity and slip rates of up to 2.0 mm a−1. This high value of deformation along the rift floor with respect to the plate separation rates suggests that most of the active strain could be accommodated by magma-induced faulting within the rift. However, the mountain front morphology associated with a displacement of 300–400 m since the Middle Pleistocene, tilted-blocks, brittle-seismic fault rock fabric and historical earthquakes with M>6 support a tectonic origin of the Asela boundary fault. Therefore, we propose a model that considers the possible coexistence of both magmatic deformation at the rift floor and brittle faulting at the rift margin. We also report the data relative to a GPS network installed in December 2004, along two transects across the WFB, between Asela and the Ziway Lake.