Mapping of the major structures of the African rift system

The author has identified the following significant results. Lake Tara lies within a previously recognized asymmetric graben situated on the Ethiopian plateau and about 250 km west of the plateau-Afar margin. ERTS-1 imagery confirms the stronger deformation of the western side of the Tara graben, with intense faulting and some associated monoclinal mapping extending between latitudes 12 deg and 14 deg N, and lying close to meridian 37 deg E. The zone of deformation is gently arcuate in plan, trending NNE in the south NNW in the north. In the north, the Quaternary faulting dies out in the alluvial plains of the Takazze Valley; in the south the faulting appears to die out in coincidence with a large erosional escapement trending S30W from Lake Tara to precisely latitude 11 deg N. This escapement aligns with the massive NE-SW escapement of western Simien, northeast of Lake Tara, and may represent erosional recession from major faulting and tilting much older than that of the superimposed, obliquely trending Tara graben. A 30 km diameter circular feature has been identified from the ERTS-1 imagery of the Tara graben, centered on 13 deg 05 min N, 37 deg 20 min E. ERTS-1 imagery further shows that the Tara graben and its associated young volcanics have no direct connection with the Red Sea or Ethiopian rift valley.