Mozambique upper fan: origin of depositional units
The upper Mozambique Fan includes a stable down-stream region, with a north-south channel flanked by thick (1.5 sec two-way traveltime) asymmetric levees, and a migrating upstream region where at least two main feeding paths have been successively dominant. From the Oligocene to early Miocene, the north-south Serpa Pinto Valley acted as the main conduit for the north Mozambique terrigenous sediments. From the middle Miocene, the west-east Zambezi Valley became the dominant path and supplied the fan with sediments transported by the Zambezi River from the central part of Mozanbique. The transfer from one sediment-feeding system to the other is related to the abandonment of the Serpa Pinto Valley because of graben formation along the Davie Ridge, which trapped the sediments, and the increase of the Zambezi River sediment supply because of the creation and erosion of the East African Rift. 13 figures.
- Research Organization:
- Laboratoire de Geodynamique Sous-Marine du CEROV, Villefranche-sur-Mer (France)
- OSTI ID:
- 6633602
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bull.; (United States), Vol. 71:11
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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