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\begin{document}

\title{Crustal softening at propagating rift tips, East Africa}



\author[1]{Folarin Kolawole}%
\author[1]{Rasheed Ajala}%
\affil[1]{Columbia University}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{May 17, 2024}


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\begin{abstract}
We investigate the upper-crustal structure of the Rukwa-Tanganyika Rift
Zone, East Africa, where earthquakes anomalously cluster at the
northwestern tip of the Rukwa Rift, the eastern tip of the Mweru-Wantipa
Rift, and along the Tanganyika Rift axis. The current rift tips host
distributed faulting in exposed basement with little sedimentation.
Here, we invert earthquake P and S travel times to produce
three-dimensional upper-crustal velocity models for the region. The
resulting models reveal the occurrence of anomalously high Vp/Vs ratios
that extend from the surface down to ca. 10 km at the tip zones of the
Rukwa and Mweru-Wantipa rifts. The spatial association of distributed
faulting, upper-crustal seismicity, and thermal anomalies with the high
Vp/Vs ratios suggest a weakened crust below the rift tips' flexural
zone. We propose an ongoing strain localization and crustal softening at
the rift tips that is accommodated by brittle damage from bending
strain, and potentially compounded by hydrothermal weakening. This
setting represents a precursory phase that may initiate unilateral rift
tip propagation.%
\end{abstract}%



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