Abstract
Key questions remain on how fault scaling relationships evolve during the life of a continental rift from inception to break-up. We investigate the patterns of crustal deformation in the incipient Okavango-Makgadikgadi Rift Zone, consisting of the Okavango Rift Zone (ORZ) and Makgadikgadi Rift Zone (MRZ), Northern Botswana. We utilize high-resolution satellite topography data (TanDEM-X) and aeromagnetic data to image and map faults across the rift zones, and generate a new, updated fault database for the region. We analyze the length-frequency distribution of faults using a two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test. The results show clear strain localization in the ORZ, while faulting in the MRZ remains diffuse. We find that when the regions are considered separately, the ORZ shows a power-law fault scaling distribution, while the MRZ shows an exponential distribution. Our results suggest that continental divergent plate boundaries initiate with an initial exponential fault length distribution which subsequently transitions into a power-law distribution as the rift localizes, and again evolving into an exponential distribution as they approach continental break-up.
Poster presentation.