A Paleotectonic Atlas of the African Plate : Permian to Recent

A Paleotectonic Atlas of the African Plate : Permian to Recent . Duncan S. Macgregor, africageologicalatlas project, 26 Gingells Farm Road, Reading, UK. duncan.macgeology@gmail.com CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Colin J. Reeves Earthworks Acterom41a, 2611PL Delft, Netherlands reeves.earth@planet.nl Abstract Tectonic maps are presented illustrating the tectonic evolution of the African plate on 19 key geological intervals between Permian and Recent times. The analysis presented integrates published data and models with unpublished data derived from petroleum exploration, with a particular emphasis on the evolution of rifts and continental margins. African plate margins range in their age of opening from Late Triassic (off Lebanon), through Early/Mid Jurassic (most of Eastern Mediterranean, Central Atlantic, Somali Basin) to ongoing (northern Red Sea). The opening of these follows distinct lines of propagation, e.g. from the Eastern Mediterranean to Guinea, and from the Somali Basin in a ‘smile’ shape around southern Africa, eventually to Guinea. Just under half of the margin lengths correspond to the traditional rifted margin model. Northern Africa margins are controlled largely by transforms, while volcanic rifted margins dominate in southern Africa. The poorly controlled Eastern Mediterranean ocean is evidenced to have commenced spreading in late Early to early Mid Jurassic times. Africa is segmented by many rifts, with these developed on all mapped intervals, though with peaks in Permian (southern Africa), Late Triassic (north Africa), Early Cretaceous (central Africa) and Neogene (east Africa). These again are of multiple origins with several associations of different rift types and transforms being seen repeatedly. The wider view taken in these maps allow the predominant passive, generally transform related, rifts to be distinguished from active rifts. Analogue-driven hypotheses can be proposed for the origin of the more poorly controlled African basins. Keywords: Tectonics, Maps, Africa, Plate Margins, Breakup, Rifting, Paleogeography 1. Introduction Africa is a continent of amazing geological diversity. As it has dissembled from other plates and is relatively little affected by compression and plate collisions, the African Plate provides the ideal research site for the study of extensional and plate tectonics. The margins to the plate, on which there is particular emphasis in this study, range from perhaps the world’s oldest (Triassic, Eastern Mediterranean off Lebanon), to the youngest (Red Sea) and, as shown in this paper, form a full array of different tectonic and volcanic types, illustrating the multiple manners in which plates break-up. We can also observe the development of a range of rift types at all stages in their development (e.g. East African Rift System (“EARS”), including their development into hyperextended margins and then oceans (Red Sea). Yet our understanding of these primarily extensional and transform systems is not what it should be. There are several reasons for this. It is rare in Africa for deep basinal facies to be brought to outcrop, a result of the lack of significant compression, and where this does occur, outcrop is often poor due to weathering. The other problems are anthropic: generally seismic and deep drilling is required to assess continental margin and deep rift fills and most of such data lies in the archives of oil companies, seismic companies and government bodies, often being deemed ‘ confidential’. In recent years some of this key data has appeared in industry publications, less commonly in peer reviewed publications, but often we are limited to scraps of data, which could be a sketch taken at an industry conference or an inset on a Powerpoint diagram. As an example, a presentation by Baudino et al (2018), issued online by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, contains a small inset on one slide showing the locations of hyperextended, mantle exhumation and oceanic zones over much of the West Africa margin : this is obviously derived from unpublished and unverifiable seismic interpretation. Nevertheless, we do seem to be at a point today that there is sufficient available data over most basins in the public domain to assess the basic tectonic and stratigraphic elements of each and to assess their regional tectonic context. The authors have been fortunate in being able to bring many of the more informal data and interpretations into this paper, having worked in the African oil industry for nearly 30 years and having organised and/or attended the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain ‘Africa conference’ events, together with a series of Geological Society of London events that have addressed specific regions of the continent. The production of the first series of maps showing our current understanding of the tectonic history of the African plate, plus related issues such as palaeogeography, thus seems timely. While similar atlases are available for other continents, e.g. Dercourt et al (2000) for Tethys and Barrier et al (2007) for the Arabian Plate, attempts to produce similar series of maps over Africa have been confined to the Paleozoic (Torsvik and Cocks, 2011) and to specific regions and tectonic associations, e.g. Guiraud et al (2005) for north Africa, Macgregor (2015, 2018) for rifts in east and south Africa, Ye et al (2017) for northwestern Africa. As Torsvik and Cocks have already covered the Paleozoic, this analysis is confined to the Permian to Recent Wilson Cycle. To this end, we have compiled a series of maps at 19 geological levels illustrating the tectonic, climatic, topographic, erosional and depositional histories of the African Plate since the Permian, the full set of which is available at www.africageologicalatlas.com . The Sub-Saharan plate model on which these are based can be accessed on www.reeves.nl. The objective of this work is to provide a product to all workers on African geology to illustrate the large scale controls on the projects they are working on and in particular to stimulate thinking on the wider regional controls on their region of study. This paper addresses only the tectonics portion of this analysis, although it is intended that it will be followed by a separate paper on facies distribution, paleoclimate and paleodrainage. There is somewhat of an emphasis on continental margins in this paper, as this is where most new data have become available in recent years and where the most recent revisions to previous models lie. For instance, over the Somali margin, the interpretation of the limit of true oceanic crust has moved oceanward by some 200km between the papers of Davison and Steel (2018) and Mortimer et al (2020), as a result of the release of deep seismic data. Within this paper, we attempt to use these maps to develop hypotheses for the origin (i.e controlling crustal or mantle mechanisms) of many African basins. This aspect of the paper is essentially an update and upscaling of the publications of Burke et al (1996, 2003). The scale of this study and lack of published deep geophysics often means the hypotheses created have low confidence at present, and they are often based on observed similarities to analogues in Africa or elsewhere. These hypotheses will eventually be either proven or disproven by workers on these basins, once more key data becomes available. 2. Setting, Material and Methods 2.1 Geological Setting The area of interest for this paper is the continental portion of the African Plate, together with its conjugate margins, though only for times at which other Gondwanan and Tethyan plates were joined to or still close to Africa. Southern, western and eastern boundaries for the African Plate are well defined by large surrounding oceans (and by now distant oceanic ridges) that have formed during the break-up of Gondwanaland. The northern plate boundary however is less well defined and can be argued to have changed through time. The African Plate, as currently bounded by transforms and subduction zones, includes southern Sicily, Malta, southern offshore Cyprus, western Lebanon and Israel. At other times in the past, the plate may also have extended without intervening subduction over much of Present Day Italy and Turkey. 2.2. Source Data and Basic Methodology The interpretations on the maps presented here are derived from a mixture of peer-reviewed papers (Tables 1, 2), PhD theses, informal internet publications, investor presentations, abstracts of presentations, verbal content of oral presentations and personal communications. Assertion and citations clearly present a problem for many of these sources, but it has often been possible to find and quote interpretations in the published literature that are now favoured by the unpublished data, and thus determine these as the favoured models. The interpretation methodology can be summarised as follows: 1. Maps from the source data (Tables 1, 2) have been compiled, georeferenced and key features lineaments traced off these into a manipulable ArcGIS project. 2. The source data is then scanned for the evidence of the timing of these features and lineaments. Ideally that source includes an auditable tectonostratigraphic chart plotting tectonic activity against time. 3. Timing aspects have then been input into attribute tables in ArcGIS, enabling the display on the appropriate maps only of lineaments and features active at that time. Due to uncertainties in dating and the need sometimes to illustrate tectonic events of slightly different age, a generous time interval is applied to each map. 4. Aspects of the paleogeography and other features that could contribute to an audit are then mapped in a similar fashion, e.g. interpreted uplifts, volcanics, shorelines, main sedimentary types. 5. A technical audit is performed to identify and resolve any discrepancies, often leading to one of several proposed models being favoured. This integrates evidence for all the different types of data portrayed in the maps, including relationships between sedimentation and tectonics. An example will be outlined in Section 2.8 where multiple models have been proposed in the literature and where a clear preference for one of these is apparent from petroleum data. Areas of greater uncertainty, particularly in timing, are labelled by question marks on the maps. In general, the regions of highest confidence in the interpretations, supported by the most peer-reviewed literature, are onshore northern and southern Africa. while those of the more tentative and less documented interpretations are deepwater regions bordering the African continent, and the onshore regions of the Sahel, Mozambique, Somalia and Madagascar. The International Commission on Stratigraphy time scale of 2023 is used in determining age assignments. 2.3 Interpretation Methodology: Plate Model The plate tectonic model applied over African margins, with the exception of the northern Tethyan margins, is that of Reeves, which is being continually updated on www.reeves.nl/gondwana Supporting discussions are given in in Reeves and de Wit (2002), Reeves et al (2004, 2016), Reeves and Souza (2021) and Reeves (2018, 2020), together with a series of research notes on specific topics Area Plate Tectonics/Margin Definition Intra Plate Lineaments (Rifts etc) and Timing All Regions Reeves (web, 2024)*, Scotese (2014)*, Torsvik and Cocks (2011)* Lapierre et al (2007), Menant et al (2016)*, Robertson and Mountrakis (2006) Longacre et al (2007), Jagger et al (2018)*, Gao et al (2020)*, Scotese and Schettino (2017), Tugend et al (2019)* Meghraoui et al (2016) Israel, Lebanon and Turkey Eastern Mediterranean Egypt Libya/Ionian margin Bruno et al (2024), Tugend et al (2019)* Algeria/Tunisia Stzerzynski et al (2021) West Med./ Sicily Morocco Carminati et al (2012)*, Handy et al (2010)* Casson (2020), Labails et al (2010)* Central Atlantic incl NW African margin Guinea to Benin margin Nigeria/Cam. Equatorial Guinea to Angola Biari et al (2021), Casson (2020)*, Kusznir et al (2017), Labails et al (2010)*, Trude et al (2022)*, Von Hinsbergen et al (2020)* Antobreh et al (2009)*, Ye et al (2017)* Cuvette Centrale Namibia South Africa Araujo et al (2023), Baudino et al (2018), Caixeta et al (2014), Marton and Pascoe (2020), Moulin et al (2010)* Macdonald et al (2003)*, Moulin et al (2010)* Eagles and Eisermann (2020*), Linol and de Wit (2016)* ‘Karoo’ (PermoTrias) rifts Red Sea Gulf of Aden Central African Rift System / Sahel Bosworth et al (2005)*, Stockli & Bosworth (2018) Bosworth and Stockli (2016)*, Purcell (2018)* Ethiopia/Somalia Davidson et al (2017), Mortimer et al (2020), Stanca et al (2016),, Reeves (2018)* East African Rift System Tanzania-Kenya Mozambique Madagascar Arabian Plate European Plates S. American Plate Pheathan et al (2016), Reeves (2018) Mueller and Jokat (2019)*, Reeves (2018), Roche et al (2021, 2022), Senkans et al (2019)*. Pheathan et al (2016), Reeves (2018)* Barrier et al (2007)* Handy et al (2010)*, Jagger et al (2018*), Menant et al (2016)*, von Hinsbergen et al (2020)* Lovecchio et al (2020)* Gardosh et al (2010, 2011), Gardosh and Druckman (2006), Gao et al (2020), Hall et al (2005), Shabar (1994) Gao et al (2020), Jagger et al (2018), Papadimitriou et al (2018)* Bosworth et al (2015), Bosworth and Tari (2021), Guiraud et al (1985), Moustafa et al (2015), Moustafa (2020)* Abadi et al (2008), Abunaser and McAfferty (2014, 2015), Antekell (1996), Boote (unpublished)* , Martin et al (2008), Bodin et al (2010), Boote et al (1998), Bruna et al 2023, Escoca et al (2021), Said et al (2011) Catalano et al (1991, 1996, 2013), Di Stefano et al (2015) Frizon et al (2008*, 2009, 2011), Hoepffner et al 2006), Roure et al (2012) Casson (2020)*, Davison (2005), Le Roy and Pique (2001), Leleu et al (2016), Ye et al (2017)* Antobreh et al (2009)*, Davison et al (2016), Markwick et al (2023) , Ye et al (2017)*, Zinecker (2020)* Saugy and Eyer (2003), Popoff (1988)* Araujo et al (2023), Chaboureau et al (2013)*, Davison and Eagles (1999), Karner and Driscoll (1999) Giresse (2005), De Wit et al (2015) Baby et al (2018), Macdonald et al (2003)*, Miller (2008), Serica Energy (2014)* Bhattacharya and Duval (2016), Catuneau et al (2005)*, Markwick et al (2023), Paton et al (2023)* Catuneau et al (2005)*, Macgregor (2018), Miller (2008), Orpen et al (1989) , Reeves et al (2004), Visser and Praekelt (1998)* Purcell (2018)* Ahmed et al (2020, 2024), Fairhead (2022), Genik (1991)*, Guiraud et al (1985)*, Guiraud and Bosworth (1997)*, Konate et al (2019), Liu et al (2017), McHargue et al (1992)* Bosworth et al (2005)*, Purcell (2018)*, Worku and Astin (1992) Macgregor (2015)*, Michon et al (2022), Klimke and Franke (2016), Morley et al (1999b,) Purcell (2018)* Davison and Steel (2018), De Franca (2012)*, Franke et al (2015), Markwick et al (2021), Morley et al (1999)* Davison and Steel (2018), Franke et al (2015), Markwick et al (2021), Salman and Adballa (1995)* Davison and Steel (2018), Markwick et al (2021) Barrier et al (2007)* Doblas (1991) Costa et al (2002), Darros de Matos et al (2021)*, Davison and Eagles (1999), Lovecchio et al (2020)*, MacDonald et al (2003)*, Popoff (1988)* Indian and Reeves (2018)* Antarctica Plates N. America Plate Davis et al (2018), von Hinsbergen et al (2020) Table 1 : Main tectonic references used in compilation of maps. Bold=key papers, * - contains sequential tectonic maps Area Plate Tectonics/Margin Definition Intra Plate Lineaments (Rifts etc) and Timing All Regions Reeves (web, 2024)*, Scotese (2014)*, Torsvik and Cocks (2011)* Lapierre et al (2007), Menant et al (2016)*, Robertson and Mountrakis (2006) Longacre et al (2007), Jagger et al (2018)*, Gao et al (2020)*, Scotese and Schettino (2017), Meghraoui et al (2016) Israel, Lebanon and Turkey Eastern Mediterranean Egypt Libya/Ionian margin Bruno et al (2024), Tugend et al (2019)* Algeria/Tunisia Stzerzynski et al (2021) West Med./ Sicily Morocco Carminati et al (2012)*, Handy et al (2010)* Casson (2020), Labails et al (2010)* Central Atlantic incl NW African margin Guinea to Benin margin Nigeria/Cam. Equatorial Guinea to Angola Biari et al (2021), Casson (2020)*, Kusznir et al (2017), Labails et al (2010)*, Trude et al (2022)*, Von Hinsbergen et al (2020)* Antobreh et al (2009)*, Ye et al (2017)* Cuvette Centrale Namibia South Africa Araujo et al (2023), Baudino et al (2018), Caixeta et al (2014), Marton and Pascoe (2020), Moulin et al (2010)* Macdonald et al (2003)*, Moulin et al (2010)* Eagles and Eisermann (2020*), Linol and de Wit (2016)* ‘Karoo’ (PermoTrias) rifts Red Sea Gulf of Aden Central African Rift System / Sahel Ethiopia/Somalia East African Rift System Tanzania-Kenya Mozambique Madagascar Arabian Plate European Plates S. American Plate Indian and Antarctica Plates N. America Plate Bosworth et al (2005)*, Stockli & Bosworth (2018) Bosworth and Stockli (2016)*, Purcell (2018)* Davidson et al (2017), Mortimer et al (2020), Stanca et al (2016),, Reeves (2018)* Pheathan et al (2016), Reeves (2018) Mueller and Jokat (2019)*, Reeves (2018), Roche et al (2021, 2022), Senkans et al (2019)*. Pheathan et al (2016), Reeves (2018)* Barrier et al (2007)* Handy et al (2010)*, Jagger et al (2018*), Menant et al (2016)*, von Hinsbergen et al (2020)* Lovecchio et al (2020)* Gardosh et al (2010, 2011), Gardosh and Druckman (2006), Gao et al (2020), Hall et al (2005), Shabar (1994) Gao et al (2020), Jagger et al (2018), Papadimitriou et al (2018)* Bosworth et al (2015), Bosworth and Tari (2021), Guiraud et al (1985), Moustafa et al (2015), Moustafa (2020)* Abadi et al (2008), Abunaser and McAfferty (2014, 2015), Antekell (1996), Boote (unpublished)* , Martin et al (2008), Bodin et al (2010), Boote et al (1998), Bruna et al 2023, Escoca et al (2021), Said et al (2011) Catalano et al (1991, 1996, 2013), Di Stefano et al (2015) Frizon et al (2008*, 2009, 2011), Hoepffner et al 2006), Roure et al (2012) Casson (2020)*, Davison (2005), Le Roy and Pique (2001), Leleu et al (2016), Ye et al (2017)* Antobreh et al (2009)*, Davison et al (2016), Markwick et al (2023) , Ye et al (2017)*, Zinecker (2020)* Saugy and Eyer (2003), Popoff (1988)* Araujo et al (2023), Chaboureau et al (2013)*, Davison and Eagles (1999), Karner and Driscoll (1999) Giresse (2005), De Wit et al (2015) Baby et al (2018), Macdonald et al (2003)*, Miller (2008), Serica Energy (2014)* Bhattacharya and Duval (2016), Catuneau et al (2005)*, Markwick et al (2023), Paton et al (2023)* Catuneau et al (2005)*, Macgregor (2018), Miller (2008), Orpen et al (1989) , Reeves et al (2004), Visser and Praekelt (1998)* Purcell (2018)* Ahmed et al (2020, 2024), Fairhead (2022), Genik (1991)*, Guiraud et al (1985)*, Guiraud and Bosworth (1997)*, Konate et al (2019), Liu et al (2017), McHargue et al (1992)* Bosworth et al (2005)*, Purcell (2018)*, Worku and Astin (1992) Macgregor (2015)*, Michon et al (2022), Klimke and Franke (2016), Morley et al (1999b,) Purcell (2018)* Davison and Steel (2018), De Franca (2012)*, Franke et al (2015), Markwick et al (2021), Morley et al (1999)* Davison and Steel (2018), Franke et al (2015), Markwick et al (2021), Salman and Adballa (1995)* Davison and Steel (2018), Markwick et al (2021) Barrier et al (2007)* Doblas (1991) Costa et al (2002), Darros de Matos et al (2021)*, Davison and Eagles (1999), Lovecchio et al (2020)*, MacDonald et al (2003)*, Popoff (1988)* Reeves (2018)* Davis et al (2018), von Hinsbergen et al (2020) TABLE 2: Main references on other aspects used in compilation of maps. Bold=key papers on the above website. The work has focused on matching conjugate ocean fracture zones (Reeves and de Wit, 2002), time-calibrated using the limited number of identified pre-83 Ma marine magnetic anomalies. The mid-ocean ridges themselves have also been modelled quantitatively. Margins for error are reduced overall by matching not only conjugate pairs of fracture zones at the ridges but also by working across all conjugate margins of Gondwana simultaneously and including the behaviour of the ridge triple junctions. Inconsistencies revealed through animating the resulting model are then eliminated iteratively to produce a credible dynamic model that honours first principles and as much of the oceanic data as possible. In addition, considerable effort has gone into attempting to match pre-drift lineaments from Africa to conjugate continents, e.g. the correlation of pre-drift rifts between Africa and Madagascar (Reeves, 2018). The African Plate is kept fixed on the maps over time. This facilitates the GIS methodology that is utilised in this study, allowing for instance faults and topographic highs to be assigned ranges of ages, without the complication of the traces of these faults shifting to different locations due to continental drift. This represents a major time saving at relatively little technical detriment to the validity of the analysis. A minor east-west contraction of the plate is applied for intervals older than Early Cretaceous to compensate for the prolific extension that occurred at that time. Given the continental scale of our study, the two key requirements for the plate model are a) to establish relative plate positions over time, ideally within around 200km, and b) to assess the timing of break-up (first true oceanic crust emplacement) as accurately as possible. This 200km error bar represents that which could make a significant difference to the assessments in this study, particularly in the portrayal of structural lineaments and paleogeography prior to breakup. The uncertainties in continental fits between the Reeves model and others listed in the first column of Table 1 are generally within 200km on the western and eastern margins, i.e. for the Atlantic and Indian oceans. There is also general agreement to within around 10-15 Ma on the timing of first emplacement of (true) oceanic crust in these regions, the greatest variations in interpretation lying in magnetically quiet periods such as the Aptian of West Africa .There are some larger differences between different authors on the fit between South Africa and the Falklands Plateau, which are of relatively little consequence to Africa itseld, but will later be discussed. Uncertainties are higher on the Tethyan margin, where we concentrate on a most likely models outlined in Section 2.8 The continental fits on the Reeves model are based on the fitting of basement shield areas. This often makes lineaments or paleoshorelines that now lie on different continents overlap on the pre-drift reconstructions of this atlas. Consequently, the fits have thus been relaxed by circa 150km as an ‘artistic licence’ to prevent such overlaps occurring, which is within our allowable interpretation error bar . In many cases, the fits then agree more closely to the those of other authors (see listing on Table 1). To fully resolve the tightness of the fits, a full structural backstripping exercise is required using on seismic extending between the necking zone and true oceanic crust over each conjugate margin. This beyond the scope of this study, both in terms of available data and time. The Reeves analysis does not extend to the Tethyan margins of north Africa, which are regions of greater uncertainty in both the fits and timing. The relative positions to Africa of Iberia, Alkapeca and ‘Apulia’ are after Handy et al (2010) and of Turkish plates after Menant et al (2016). The reconstructions of Von Hinsbergen et al (2020) are also used to determine plate fits, though with a different timing of spreading of the eastern Mediterranean. The relative position and dimensions of the Arabian Plate are taken from the compilation of Barrier et al (2007), which include an interpretation of major shortening on the Zagros margin. All these Arabian plates are georeferenced relative to the Africa coastline on the maps, which often distorts them. This, together with the high uncertainties in these regions, means that the portrayal of Tethyan and European plates and platelets should be regarded as schematic. The Central Atlantic reconstructions are after Casson (2020), including reconstructions contributed to this work by J. Teasdale, and Trude et al (2023). 2.4 Interpretation Methodology : Intra-Plate Lineaments The first stage of this analysis was to compile an ArcGIS feature class of faults and lineaments across Africa based on georeferenced tectonic elements maps taken from the literature (see asterisked references in second column of Table 1). Many tectonic lineaments offshore have been accessed from oil exploration web publications e.g. Serica Energy (2014) for Namibia. Lineaments are classified into only a few key classes (Figure 1). For rifts, the main syn-rift phase is differentiated from early and post-rift phases in which faults may be moving more gently. All compressional features from thrusts to inversion anticliness are kept in the same class. Transforms are often less well defined, so a ‘speculative’ class is introduced., with sinistral and dextral movements differentiated if that is possible. The second stage of the analysis assigns timing to the lineaments. This utilises an audit of published tectonostratigraphic charts in the source data. For rifts, this means correct recognition of the periods that faults were active as evidenced by bounding unconformities, stratigraphic and volcanic ages and/or stratigraphic growth into faults. An example of such an analysis is presented in Macgregor (2015), which discusses 7 lines of evidence for the timing of faults in the East African Rift System. Again, question marks are applied in poorly controlled cases. 2.5 Interpretation Methodology : Volcanism Outcropping volcanic polygons and ages are extracted from USGS shape files (Hearn et al, 2001). These are then checked against or added to from the references listed in the first column of Table 2. Offshore volcanics over many regions are taken from Markwick et al 2021, 2023). The only significant subsurface volcanics shown are those which correspond to seaward dipping reflectors, which have been mapped from various sources on deep volcanic rifted margins such as Namibia and Mozambique. 2.6 Interpretation Methodology : Palaeotopography The interpretation of paleotopography decreases in confidence with increased age. For the Neogene and Oligocene intervals, the topography shown is primarily based on backtracking the origin of existing topography through time (e.g. Paul et al, 2014), often by analysing river profiles. Marked changes in topography around the early Oligocene (Burke, 1996, Burke et al, 2003), evidenced for instance by sedimentation rate profiles, mark the limits of this technique. For the Paleogene and Late Cretaceous intervals, apatite fission track data (AFTA) derived evidence for rapid cooling, that is presumed to be related to uplift, becomes the primary technique. The AFTA literature for Africa has been scanned and arrows are added on the maps for periods when minor and major uplift is evidenced. In general, fission track ages around Africa, which gives the age at which the rocks analysed last were cooled through temperatures of 110 deg C (average of circa 3km of burial), get older around African margins in a clockwise direction commencing on the Red Sea margin. This is taken to indicate that the average age of uplift and topography gets older in the same clockwise manner. Again, this technique often has a lower stratigraphic limit around the middle of the Cretaceous, as apatite clocks were generally set after this time, and another step change down in confidence occurs. Another methodology used as far back as the start of the Cretaceous is to predict the topography of a sediment sinks’ hinterland using Present Day analogues (Somme et al, 2009). Carbonate deposition is taken to indicate low sediment supply and hinterland topography, while high clastic sedimentation rates are taken to indicate large drainage catchments accessing large erosion prone highs at a time of a wet climate. A high frequency of marine transgressions is taken to imply topography below 150m, as is seen over much of North Africa in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene. Topography prior to the Cretaceous intervals, is highly speculative, being based largely on the predictive effects of tectonic events, e.g. that rifts had shoulders to them. All paleotopography can be regarded as relative, with very high, high and moderate categories differentiated, with no elevation figures implied. 2.7 Interpretation Methodology : Shorelines and Dominant Facies As described in the previous section, sedimentary rates and types provide a useful audit of the active tectonics interpreted at that time. Another example of relationships between tectonics and facies is that deep lacustrine conditions are invariably indicative of syn-rift conditions. Only marine sedimentation is shown on these maps to reduce complexity. The main interpretations shown are the locations of paleo-shorelines and shelf edges, plus a simple choice between shelf sedimentation that is dominated by clastic and that dominated by carbonates. Sinks with particularly high depositional rates are identified, representing a simplification of a fuller analysis available on www.africageologicalatlas.com . Such calculations are however only possible from the base of the Cretaceous upwards due to poor stratigraphic control over deep Jurassic sections. The interpretation shown is compiled from the paleogeographic maps contained within the sources listed in the third column on Table 2. The shorelines shown represent relative highstands within the periods concerned. Few individual source maps go beyond country boundaries so the result is essentially a patchwork of multiple sources. Where such source maps are taken on time intervals slightly different to those represented in the maps, shorelines are shifted according to the progradational or retrogradational trends apparent from local stratigraphic work, or failing that, from global sea level curves. 2.8 Interpretation and Methodology Case Study : Eastern Mediterranean It is clearly not possible to discuss every interpretation or uncertainty on the maps in great detail. We have thus chosen to illustrate our methodology in full for the example of the Eastern Mediterranean (Figure 2). The interpretation of the timing and nature of the opening between northeast Africa and the Menderes-Taurides portions of Turkey is perhaps the greatest uncertainty on any of the maps. There are no discernible magnetic stripes due to the exceptionally thick sedimentary cover. The ages of interpreted oceanic crust emplacement in the literature range from Paleozoic (Granot, 2016) to Cretaceous (e.g. Dercourt et al, 2000), with two concentrations of interpretations around the Permian (e.g. Stampfli et al, 2001) and Late Triassic to Jurassic (e.g.. Le Pichon et al 2019). There is a similar wide range in interpretations of the nature and orientation of spreading and its relationship to transforms, some authors presenting models of N-S transforms off the Levant coast (Schattner and Ben-Avraham, 2007) and others of E-W transforms off Egypt (e.g. Le Pichon et al, 2019). Which of these multiple models should we adopt? The Permian break-up model was considered on the data compiled at that level. This model relies largely on the observation of deep marine strata in basins in Tunisia and Sicily, and the assumption that these were connected to Neotethys through an incipient Eastern Mediterranean. Recent published seismic data suggest that the Djeffara Basin in Tunisia is an isolated feature and does not open out to the north into a deeper basin (Bruna et al, 2023). The persistent deep marine strata in the Sicani Basin of Sicily might, as discussed later, be better connected to the Tethys through a seaway further north, now on European plates. Furthermore, timing of lineaments indicated that Permian rifting is not widespread in North Africa, contrary to that in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic. Flood basalts of this age are also not seen in the Mediterranean area. Key evidence supporting a Jurassic break-up age was found mainly from recent published and unpublished petroleum data. This evidence is listed as follows, as labelled on Figure 2: 1) NE-SW rifting is observed of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic age in Israel (Gardosh et al, 2010). 2) The same is observed in Sinai, with rifting oblique to a roughly east-west trending transform, which must therefore have a dextral movement (Moustafa et al, 2013). 3) Early Jurassic volcanic sequences have been interpreted on the Eratosthenes Ridge, (Papadimitriou et al, 2018), together with flood basalts in Israel dated as latest Triassic (207203Ma, Segev (2005)). 4) A probable breakup unconformity of around mid Jurassic age is evidenced on industry seismic over the Eratosthenes Ridge, (Papadimitriou et al, 2018). This overlies the Early Jurassic volcanic sequences. 5) Although it is mentioned verbally in a number of industry papers (e.g. Tari et al, 2012), the existence of a dextral transform of this age parallel to the Egyptian coast had not till recently been illustrated on any published seismic or structural maps that illustrated the postulated transform along the Egyptian coast. It has now been verbally described by BP in a paper on the Atoll Field (, 2024, pers. comm.) 6) The basins of the Western Desert are frequently described as ‘transtensional’ and commenced subsidence around mid Jurassic times. Rifting is generally thought to be coeval with Eastern Mediterranean opening (Bosworth and Tari, 2021). An analogue is proposed here to the rifts of the Honduran Borderlands, which are thought to be coeval with the opening of the Cayman Trough (Sanchez et al, 2016). The structural styles and geometries of the two settings are similar. Figure 1 : Legend applying to Figures 2-21. Figure 2: A compilation of Jurassic tectonic lineaments and evidence supporting the model for Early to Middle Jurassic break-up of the Eastern Mediterranean Ocean. The Herodotus and Ionian segments of this ocean may be slightly different in age, as suggested by a younging of associated volcanism to the east. Numbers relate to the listing of evidence in the text for a late Early to early Middle Jurassic opening of the Eastern Mediterranean. A cross-section of wells in northern Cyrenaica (Libya) was kindly provided informally to the author by David Boote from a Lynx multiclient study (Lynx GIS, 2010). This illustrates deep water Mid Jurassic strata unconformably overlying Late Triassic to Hettangian shallow marine carbonates, interpreted as a breakup unconformity of late Early to early Mid Jurassic age. 7) A verbal paper at a Geological Society North Africa conference on the Gulf of Sirt (Bruno et al, 2024), described a stress direction of 0-15 deg at this time. This implies extension slightly oblique to the interpreted spreading direction of the Ionian Sea. The interpretation presented from the stress analysis necessitates a transform dividing the Ionian from the Herodotus Ocean. This is added as a ‘tentative’ transform since there is no direct evidence for it. 8) Thick flood basalts have been penetrated in Maltese offshore wells (Reeh and Aifa, 2008), peaking in the Middle Jurassic. These are therefore generally younger than those in Israel and the Eratosthenes Ridge, suggesting a propagation of events from east to west through the Early and Middle Jurassic. 9) A Triassic to Jurassic paleogeographic analysis over Sicily (Di Stefano et al, 2015), indicate a long lived NW-SE trending shelf edge at this time, supporting the indicated spreading direction of the Ionian Sea. 10) The Ligurian ocean is believed to have spread in the Bajocian (Van Hinsbergen et al, 2020). This would be consistent with the eastwards Early to Middle Jurassic propagational model suggested under 9) above. The N-S Ligurian Ocean must be bounded by a transform where it meets the African Plate which Handy et al (2010) interprets as an extension of the AzoresGibraltar Transform. This completes a model of two transforms bounding North Africa, connected through the oblique margin of the Ionian Sea. An analogue for this model is the Cretaceous African Equatorial Margin, bounded by the St Paul and Romanche transforms, with the Tano Basin of Ghana forming an extensional salient between these (Section 3.10). Of all the multiple models thus reviewed in the literature, the Jurassic E-W transform model of the Le Pichon paper is most consistent with these 11 observations and was thus adopted with appropriate amendments. Further discussions follow in Sections 3.4-3.6. 2.9 Basin Terminology Throughout the interpretations we use certain terms for different types of basin that are now publically adopted and are frequently used in publications, such as that of Allen and Allen (2013). Rifts are commonly assigned the terms ‘passive’ or ‘active’, dependant on whether they are thought to be derived from crustal stretching or asthenosphere rise. Frizon et al (2015) provides useful checklists of evidence for the two classes. Passive rifts should lack high rift shoulders, show relatively minor volcanism that largely postdates the main phase of rifting and are often multi-phase. Active shifts involve larger uplifts, so should show large wide rift shoulders, erosional unconformities marking periods of uplift and a larger degree of volcanism that should predate the main phase of rifting. Applying the terms has sometimes proven difficult, partly as rifts often change their character with time. For instance, the Early Cretaceous ‘Afro-Brazilian Depression’ of west Africa has the character of a passive rift, one of several apparent on Figure 10, whereas Barremian to Aptian rifting in the same region and in that further south is clearly ‘active’, with the asthenosphere rise concerned eventually leading to mantle exhumation (Brune et al, 2014). In this paper, the classification of Merle (2011), based on tectonic associations, has been used in conjunction with the more interpretative passive/active categories, as per his combination of the terms in his Table 4. The relevant categories for Africa here are ‘Plumerelated rifts (= ‘Active’), Mountain-related rifts (=’Passive’) and the dominant category ‘Transform-related rifts (=’Passive’). Type Examples of the three categories lie in the East African Rift system (Merle, 2011), onshore Tunisian rifts and the Central African Rift System (Browne and Fairhead, 1985; Fairhead, 2022) The main period of structural growth in a rift is termed the ‘syn-rift’ (and is shown as a continuous red line on the maps for the time period concerned (Figure 1) : this is sometimes, as described by Macgregor (2015), preceded by a period of much milder subsidence, termed the ‘early’ or ‘initial’ rift, also evident on the west Africa case study discussed above. ‘Sag’ sequences are sometimes seem in the post-rift phases and arguably, in West Africa, in pre-drift phases or while rifting is still ongoing in more distal areas: these are roughly symmetrical bowl shaped intervals with minor faulting. Continental margin type end members include the ‘rifted margin’ (Sapin et al, 2021) , which contain assemblages of rifts that precede continental drift, with the eventual oceanic ridge opening semi-parallel to these. Such margins in Africa typically contain a ‘necking zone’ of sharp continental crust thinning, outboard of which may lie a ‘hyperextended’ zone, where Beta factors of up to 4 may be observed. Beyond this, we see in a few instances a ‘mantle exhumation’ zone, where the continental crust has been completely removed. ‘True oceanic crust’ beyond this represents submarine lavas which have been erupted on oceanic ridges separating segments of continental crust. These various zones are well for the Angolan margin in Brune et al (2014). ‘Seaward Dipping Reflectors’ (SDRs), which when intersected, have been shown to tie to very thick series of subaerial volcanic flows (McDermott et al., 2018), are the main characteristic of ‘volcanic rifted’ margins (Sapin et al, 2021). The terms ‘rifted’ and ‘volcanic rifted’ margins are synonymous with the terms ‘magma-poor’ and ‘magma-rich’ margins. The Angola margin (Brune et al , 2014) and Namibia margin (McDermott et al., 2018) are type examples. ‘Transform’ margins are those where the spreading ridge intersects a transform fault that bounds continental crust (Basile, 2015), grading to ’oblique’ margins where the intersection is at an acute angle. The Romanche and St Paul Fracture Zones on the African equatorial margin have long been regarded as type examples of ‘transform margins’ (Basile, 2015). All the terms for rifts and margins can be regarded as end-members, with many basins and margins being transitions of or hybrids between these. 3. Maps The main product of this study are the maps. Each is discussed here, with a summary of the tectonic highlights of each interval presented on the figure caption. A legend for all maps is shown as Figure 1. 3.1 Figure 3 : Kungurian (Early Permian) 275+-5Ma Two enigmatic depocentres are observed on the northern part of the African Plate at this time , the Sicani (SI) Basin of Sicily (SI) and the Djeffara (DJ) Basin of Tunisia/Libya. Both contain deep water facies or a transition to these, which has led to interpretations that Neotethys was propagating this far west at this time (e.g. Stampfli et al, 2001). We however agree with arguments presented by Scotese et al (2017) against a Neotethys propagation into the region at this time through the eastern Mediterranean area, e.g. lack of rifting at this time in the that area, lack of flood basalts or ophiolites. Alternative explanations must therefore be sought. The latest released seismic interpretations on the Djeffara Basin (Bruna et al, 2023) indicates a narrow elongate depocenter that does not thicken to the north towards any conceivable ocean. As Late Hercynian/Variscan movements are still setting off shear zones into the African and Iberian continents (Doblas, 1991: Hoepffer et al, 2006), one possibility is that the basin could be a narrow transtensional feature developed along one of these. The Sicani Basin (Catalano et al, 1991, 1996 : Di Stefano et al, 2015) presents more of a problem : no base is seen to the deepwater succession, and unlike the Djeffara, it does not later ‘heal’, i.e. fill up with sediment to the level that shallow water or terrestrial strata are deposited. Biota indicate a deepwater environment and a link to sediments in Crete, Kurdistan and Oman (Catalano et al, 1991). Its east-west trend (Di Stefano et al, 2015 ) does maybe suggest a link at this time through surviving parts of PaleoTethys, possibly through the Lagonegro (LA) Basin (Catalano et al, 1991), which contains some deepwater Triassic facies, or alternatively through Crete : both possibilities are shown. More work is required to determine the exact position of the oceanic connection, though it seems this is largely an issue for European researchers. In north Africa, most topography is interpreted to be associated with a series of broad folds that run parallel to the Hercynian belt, these being the sites of later deep erosion evidenced by the Hercynian subcrop pattern. The dominance of carbonates in the NW Africa-European area presents another enigma, given the proximity of the Hercynian mountain belt and represents another uncertainty still to be resolved at this level. Southern and East African lineaments are after Macgregor (2018), who differentiates two main phases of Permo-Trias rifting in southern Africa. The first of these is initiated in the Stephanian and reaches peak activity at this time (Catuneanu et al, 2005). Narrow transtensional and deep half grabens are developed along the ‘Southern Trans Africa Shear’ (‘STASS’ of Visser and Praekelt, 1998) from the Morondava Basin (MO) to the Aranos Basin (AB) of Namibia (Orpen et al, 1989; Miller, 2008). Another set of passive dip slip rifts, typified by the Rukwa (RU) rift, runs perpendicular to the main trend through Zambia and Tanzania. This pattern of transform-related passive rifts both along and oblique to the transform constitutes a very similar pattern to the association of Cretaceous passive rifts with the Central African shear (Section 3.8 onwards). There is no clear connection to lineaments in South America but an intersect of the STASS with the Cape Fold Belt is likely (Visser & Praekelt, 1998), perhaps in the current offshore, suggesting the transform is being driven by the Patagonian collision. The model adopted here for the incipient Cape Fold Belt (CFB) is that of Linol and de Wit (2016, various papers therein), who suggest that there was double subduction below Patagonia (PA), including consumption of the Agulhas Ocean (AO) separating Africa and Patagonia. The main associated paleogeographic feature is a large enclosed, often anoxic, brackish sea within the developing foreland basin north of the Cape Belt mountains (Bastos et al 2021), covering the Parana (PN) and Great Karoo (GK) Basins. The Great Karoo Basin was underfilled at this time (Catuneanu et al, 2005), suggesting that topography in the developing fold belt was still subdued. The Permian fit of the Falkland Islands is disputed (see discussions in Stanca et al, 2023). We are convinced of the fit shown here to the south of Natal, mainly based on Kimmeridgian facies and tectonic correlations (Section 3.7). This requires the imposition of a bend in the Cape Fold Belt as it enters the South Africa offshore that is supported by the lineament analysis of Paton et al (2023). Some authors instead favour a Permian position east of Natal (Stanca et al, 2019, 2023 ) and invoke a migration and rotation of the islands in the intervening period from the Permian to the Late Jurassic to reach the agreed southern position at that time. As the cause of such a rotation is unknown and it would not affect the African Plate, we have held the Falklands in the southern position through this period. Figure 3: Tectonics in the Kungurian (Early Permian) interval, 275+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The key event at this time is one of the earliest phases of Permian (‘Karoo’) rifting in southern Africa. Cape Fold Belt movements are still minor. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. A few enigmatic deepwater basins form on the northern margin, whose paleogeographic context is still not understood. 3.2 Figure 4 : Induan-Olenekian (earliest Triassic) 251 +-5Ma In North Africa the Djeffara (DJ) Rift is still subsiding (Gabtni et al, 2009) while other seemingly isolated set of rifts are forming in the Maragh (MA) Basin and Hameimat (HA) Basins of Libya (Gras and Thusu,1998). The Palymrides (PA) Basin of Syria (Brew et al, 2001) rifts as a precursor to opening of part of the Eastern Mediterranean, with the rifting probably extending on trend into the Levantine (LE) Basin (Gardosh and Druckman, 2006). The first of the rifts that precede Central Atlantic breakup occurs within the Argana (AR) Valley of Morocco (Frizon et al, 2008). Local rifting also occurs in the Sabratah (SA) Basin offshore Libya as part of a gradual step northwards (and into the current offshore) of rift activity in this area through the Permo-Trias (Reeh and Reston, 2014). A northwards expansion of the Permo-Triassic rifts of eastern Africa occurs around this time, with rifts initiated over north-east Africa (Macgregor, 2018). The main rift event in the Ogaden (OG) Basin is, for instance, of Early Triassic (Induan) age, during which a thick syn-rift deep lacustrine shale (Bokh Shale) was deposited (Worku & Astin, 1992), time equivalents of which are seen in the Mombasa Basin (MB) and Middle Sakamena Formation of the Morondava (MO) Basin in Madagascar (Wescott and Diggens, 1998). Madagascan rifts however show more marine influence at this time than do the African ones, likely due to a marine inlet pulsating southwards from Neo-Tethys, perhaps through the Somalian offshore rifts mapped by Davidson et al (2018). The u opening of this inlet to Neo-Tethys may be facilitated by the breakup of what are now Iranian plate fragments from their original position off Oman. The last of the collisions that assemble Pangea occurs as the main phase of the Cape Orogeny (Linol and de Wit, 2016) . Distal compression is seen as far north as the Cuvette Centrale (CC: Giresse, 2005). The Great Karoo (GK) foreland basin moves into a filled stage, characterized now by thick nonmarine sediments (Catuneanu et al, 2005). Figure 4: Tectonics in the Induan-Olenekian (earliest Triassic), 251 +-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The key event at this time is the peak of Cape Fold Belt tectonism. The interval covers one of the final phases of Permo-Triassic (‘Karoo’) rifting in southern and eastern Africa. This rifting event is more significant in north-eastern Africa. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.3 Figure 5 : Carnian (Late Triassic) 230+-5Ma Neotethys may now be propagating into at least the northeastern part of the Mediterranean, between Lebanon and the Taurides block. This is evidenced by the outcropping of Late Triassic oceanic basalts in Cyprus (Lapierre et al, 2007) and in Turkey (Robertson et al , 2013). An alternative model is that these indications of oceanic crust could be connected through deep marine facies in Crete to the Lagonegro and Sicani Basins of Italy. Israel (e.g. Judea Graben, JG) is still in a syn-rift phase (Gardosh and Druckman, 2006) ,thus a transform is speculated to form a limit to the Neotethyan ocean at this time. Widespread carbonate deposition characterises the northern and north-eastern margins of the African and Arabian plates, though with an increasing proportion of deepwater facies (Dercourt et al, 2000). There is a large expansion of rifting in the Atlas (AT) rifts and their Newark (NE) rift conjugates (Le Roy & Pique, 2001: Manspeizer, 1988), In addition, rifting occurs in offshore Sicily (Streppanosa Basin (ST), Catalano et al, 1996) and in the Gulf of Sirt (GOS) and offshore Cyrenaica (CY) areas (E. Gillard, pers comm 2017, PESGB Africa Conference presentation). More gentle rifting, accompanying sag-like extension, occurs in the Triassic Basin (TR) of Algeria (Boote et al, 1998). Rifting may thus be occurring over a wide belt from the Levantine Basin (LE) of Israel to Senegal (SE) at this time. Many authors thus consider this the peak rifting period of North Africa (e.g. Jagger et al, 2018). The Djeffara (DJ) Basin of Tunisia/Libya has now filled, with rifting have migrated northwards into the current offshore. Many of the rifts in southern Africa now seem to be in a phase of fill by fluvial redbeds (Macgregor, 2018), suggesting filled conditions and a gradual end to subsidence. Following a stratigraphic hiatus in the Ladinian which could mark the final movements on the Cape Fold Belt (CFB), the Great Karoo (GK) Basin also appears to enter an overfilled phase (Catuneanu et al, 2005). Figure 5: Tectonics in the Carnian (Late Triassic), 230+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The key event at this time is a widespread Late Triassic rifting event over northern Africa. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.4 Figure 6 : Rhaetian (Triassic)/Hettangian (Jurassic) Boundary 201+-5Ma Major alkaline flood basalts are erupted on the margin of the Levantine Basin (LE) (207-203Ma, Segev (2005)), associated with an unconformity of Norian to Hettangian age (Gardosh et al, 2010, 2011). Early Jurassic volcanism has also been interpreted on seismic over the Eratosthenes Plateau (EP, Papadimitriou et al, 2018). Rifting seems to be propagating westwards from Israel through Sinai into parts of the Western Desert (WD, 2020) with a southern boundary formed by the E-W trending Sinai Shear Zone (SSZ, Moustafa et al, 2013) |: the orientation of the rifts implies dextral movement on this transform. Rifting is established over the areas of both the future Central Atlantic and Ligurian (Alpine) oceans (Handy et al, 2010). This requires initiation of the Azores-Gibraltar Transform (AGT) and in an extension off it into northern Algeria (Handy et al, 2010), that cannot be evidenced now due to subsequent complex thrust tectonics. The intensity of rifting has somewhat decreased since the Carnian in the Newark (NE), Nova Scotia (NS), Atlassic (AT) and Streppanosa rifts (ST), though a second milder pulse is proposed in Morocco (Frizon et al, 2008, Escoca et al, 2021). Within tectonically controlled inlets such as the Triassic Basin (TR), now in a sag phase, and those preceding the formation of the Central Atlantic, evaporites are well developed A major magmatic event occurs at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which is defined at the mass extinction associated with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Plume (CAMP). The distribution of CAMP volcanics is largely after McHone (2000). On the American side, a distinct magnetic anomaly along the deepwater margin is tied to the emplacement of widespread seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs) (Davis et al, 2018). However, there are no reports of SDRs on the African margin north of Senegal. A similar elongate magnetic anomaly is seen on the African margin (von Hinsbergen et al, 2020), but this is weaker and in a much more proximal position relative to the eventual oceanic boundary, and does not seem likely with the available information to tie to SDRs. Kusznir et al (2017), based on potential fields work indicating gradual crustal thinning westwards, believe the Canaries (CA) area to be a hyperextended margin, with an initial attempt at rifting east of the islands preceding a ‘jump’ in the rifting axis to a more distant position, where spreading eventually occurred. More deep seismic studies are required, but at this stage, we follow the interpretation of Davis et al (2018) that a volcanic rifted margin on the US side is synchronous with a largely amagmatic rifted margin on the Moroccan-Mauritania conjugate. The ‘Karoo’ rifts are now inactive (Macgregor, 2018). Over the Zambian and Tanzanian rifts, an unconformity is seen between Triassic and Late Cretaceous, capping inversion structures that increase in intensity to the southwest from the Luangwa Basin (LU). These must occur from reversal of the earlier STASS transforms. The lack of any transform displacement on the Pleinsbachian Botswana dyke swarms (BDS on Figure 7) suggests that this inversion must occur within or close to this time period. Figure 6: Tectonics in the Rhaetian (Triassic)/Hettangian (Jurassic) Boundary, 201+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The map ties to the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (‘CAMP’) Plume. In NE Africa, rifting is propagating westwards into the Western Desert of Egypt. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.5 Figure 7 : Pleinsbachian-Early Toarcian (Early Jurassic) 185+-7Ma As discussed in Section 2.8, first oceanic crust formation in the Eastern Mediterranean is likely initiated in late Early to early Middle Jurassic times. Eastern areas may open first, consistent with a model of propagation from a Late Triassic age offshore Lebanon, so breakup is interpreted only for the offshore Egypt (i.e. Herodotus) salient at this time. Horsts and grabens in the Levantine Basin (LE) trend NNESSW, implying transform movement along the sharp Egyptian margin (Longacre et al, 2007: Le Pichon et al, 2019). At some point, extension may be transferred from the Levantine (LE) Basin to the Herodotus (HE) Basin, which then hyperextended prior to breakup, leaving the Eratosthenes Plateau (EP) as a stranded block (Gao et al, 2020). The model adopted for the opening of the Central Atlantic is that of Labails et al (2010), with first oceanic crust around 190Ma emplaced north of the Blake Spur (BS) only. Seaward Dipping Reflector (SDR) formation on a Volcanic Rifted Margin commences south of the Blake Spur (Trude et al , 2023). These SDRs are now located off Suriname and Guinea. A new phase of rifting commences in east Africa over rifts such as the Mandawa (MA) Basin of Tanzania between 182-170Ma (Macgregor, 2018). The syn-rift phase could be older offshore Somalia, where large rifts are observed by Davidson et al (2018) ending with the opening of the Somali (SO) oceanic basin, which could be as early as Late Toarcian (Reeves, 2018). This is clearly a hyperextended margin, based on the seismic lines of Stanca et al (2016) and Mortimer et al (2020), with the limit of oceanic crust now interpreted far more oceanward than early interpretations. Marine conditions transgressed in the Pleinsbachian as far south as southern Somalia (Boote and Matchette Downes, 2009), prior to a further transgression in the Toarcian (Macgregor, 2018), which likely reached northern Mozambique. Toarcian marine salt is known from the Mandawa (MA) Basin of Tanzania and the Majunga Basin (MJ) of Madagascar, while salt diapirs have been interpreted on seismic over the offshore Angoche (AN) Basin of Mozambique (Senkans et al, 2019). The East African margin thus seems to demonstrate a model of southwards propagational events, with the ages of the initiation of rifting, of the first marine transgression into the developing rifts and of continental breakup age all younging to the south. A major ‘Karoo’ volcanic episode affects southern Africa (Pevye 2015), Antarctica and Tasmania in the earliest Toarcian (circa 179Ma) and is tied to a significant extinction event. The lack of any subsequent displacement on Botswanan, Angolan and Namibian dykes of this age indicates that there have no transform displacements crossing this area of the continent at any time since. At 177Ma, volcanism began on the Mozambique (MZ) margin (Mueller and Jokat, 2019) with the emplacement of seaward dipping reflectors. The first AFTA-derived uplift interpretations appear though are not backed up by sedimentological observations in offshore sinks (e.g by an input of sands), so these interpretations are rated as uncertain. The Reguibat (RE) massif of NW Africa is proposed to begin a long slow topographic rise (Charton et al, 2021). AFTA data alone also suggest an initial uplift of the Leo (LEO) massif region (Wildman et al, 2022). Figure 7: Tectonics in the Pleinsbachian-Early Toarcian (Early Jurassic), 185+-7Ma. Africa plate fixed. The wide time interval should cover the breakup of the northern portion of the Central Atlantic and also the eastern portion of the Eastern Mediterranean . These oceans initiate a transform phase over the north Africa margin. The interval also covers the. ‘Karoo’ volcanic event in southern Africa. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.6 Figure 8 : Aalenian to Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) 170+-5Ma Breakup of the Eastern Mediterranean is now well established. A large ?breakup unconformity is seen in Cyrenaica (CY) separating Hettangian shallow marine and Callovian deep gravity deposits in the A128 well (D. Boote, proprietary work within Lynx GIS, 2010) and is interpreted on seismic on the Eratosthenes Plateau (EP). Evidence for transform tectonics extends as far west as the incipient Azores-Gibraltar transform (AGT), though the geometry of the proposed system requires the Gulf of Sirt (GoS) margin to be an extensional NW-SE trending rifted margin connecting two transforms. This is, to a limited extent, supported by assessments of the stress direction interpreted from fault orientations by ENI in this region, which range from 0-15 deg (P. D’Adda, pers comm, Geological Society presentation, 2024, Bruno et al, 2024). A NW-SE Ionian trend is supported by the paleogeography interpreted over Sicily at this time (Di Stefano et al 2015). The inferred orientation of the Ionian spreading ridge thus clearly differs from the NNE-SSW trend interpreted off Israel and Egypt (Herodotus ocean), suggesting that the Eastern Mediterranean is perhaps best treated as two oceans of slightly different age of initiation and different trends. A slightly younger age for the Ionian Sea relative to the Herodotus is indicated by the Middle Jurassic age of flood basalts in Maltese (MA :Reeh and Aifa, 2008), which compares with the Late Trias to Early Jurassic age for the Asher flood basalts of Israel and the Eratosthenes Plateau. The extension of the Azores-Gibraltar transform (AGT) as far east as Sicily is inferred by the spreading of the Ligurian (LI, or ‘Alpine’) ocean, which is just about to open at this time (Handy et al, 2010) and may be another ocean on a continuing propagational trend. Many authors believe that the Western Desert (WD) rifts of Egypt were initiated at this time (e.g. Moustafa, 2020), though Bosworth and Tari (2021) , based on a conflicting biostratigraphic dating for the Khatatba Formation, do not think widespread rifting occurred there until the Late Jurassic. These rifts (e.g. the Alamein Basin (AL)) are reported in these papers to have ‘transtensional’ aspects, though direct evidence is not provided, with the period of extension suggested to tie to the period of spreading of the Eastern Mediterranean (Bosworth and Tari 2021). A SE Asia style model involving initial transtension (and later transpression/inversion) may well apply to these basins. Possible analogues for their development at this time may be the Honduran Borderland rifts which run perpendicular to and are synchronous with the Eocene-Recent Cayman Trough ocean (Sanchez et al, 2016) Nevertheless, more local geophysical data is required to investigate the hypothesis that these are transform-related passive rifts and confirm the relationship to Eastern Mediterranean opening. The rate of drift is accelerating in the Central Atlantic, but with oceanic crust still only reaching the Blake Spur (BS) (Teasdale in Casson, 2020; Trude et al (2023). Trude’s maps have areas south of here (Guinea (GU)/Suriname) still within a volcanic rifted margin phase (SDRs) at this time. The Somali Basin is now opening, with oblique spreading extending to Tanzania and perhaps northern Mozambique (Reeves, 2018). The Davie Transform is yet to form (Phethean et al, 2016). Deepwater conditions are established between carbonate platforms in Tanzania (TA) and the Madagascar basins around Bajocian times, which may mark break up (Macgregor (2018). A volcanic rifted margin is forming over the Mozambique margin, which likely extends as far inland as the volcanics of the Lebombo (LB) monocline (Davison and Steel, 2018). A model by which the entire Mozambique Basin (MB) is underlain by non-radioactive SDR volcanics and highly extended gabbro-intruded continental crust is supported by the low geothermal gradients measured in wells in the basin (Macgregor, 2020), and is indeed required to prevent continental overlaps in restorations versus Antarctica (Reeves, 2018). Figuerido et al (pers. Comm. PESGB presentation, 2021) interprets first oceanic crust at 170Ma in the Angoche (AN) Basin and offshore Zambezi (ZA), though this was abandoned in favour of more outboard spreading centre 10My later, leaving the Beira High (BH) as a stranded block (the third time on African margins we have seen this ‘rift jump’ model proposed). Roche et al (2021,2022) transfers the extension in this region to the south on the Limpopo transform (LT), with the proto-Weddell Sea possibly starting to open in response (Reeves, 2018). Rifting of the Agulhas Basins in South Africa may be commencing in the deepest half graben of the Gamtoos (GA) Basin (Mcmillan et al, 1997). This is likely to be an extension of the East Falklands (EF) Basin (a.k.a. Falklands Plateau Basin). Figure 8: Tectonics in the Aalenian to Bathonian (Middle Jurassic), 170+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The interval covers the split between of Africa and Madagascar and therefore between West and East Gondwana. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. Mediterranean-Alpine oceans are propagating northwestwards, detaching Adria and Turkish Plates from Africa. 3.7 Figure 9 : Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) 152+-5Ma Tethyan oceans from the Proto-Caribbean to the Middle East are now rapidly spreading, as are various segments of the Indian Ocean. The North Africa transform margin is now clearly developed, with major displacements inferred now on the Azores-Gibraltar Transform (AGFZ) (Handy et al, 2010) .Possibly in response to these greater displacements to the west, the inferred pull-apart basins in the Western Desert (WD) continue to propagate in that direction into the better documented area of northeastern Libya. The Jebel El Akhbar (JEB) and Marmarica (MA) Basins are reported by Martin et al (2008) to be ‘pull-apart basins’ (i.e. transform-related passive rifts) controlled by the North Cyrenaica dextral shear zone. Isolated rifting also occurs in Tunisia and Morocco. Carbonate deposition dominates all northern regions of the African plate, while the south-western margins are clastic dominated, though without evidence of any major deltas. The Central Atlantic ocean now extends to Guyana (Trude et al, 2023) and likely propogates further into the proto-Caribbean. NW-SE trending rifts become active in Yemen at this time, though exploration for presumed extensions of these in Somalia has to date failed to find thick Jurassic sections (Purcell, 2018). Some small rifts in Sudan start to form that are considered members of the Central African rift population, notably the Blue Nile (BN) Rift (Bosworth, 1992). A sharp switch to N-S spreading in the Somali Basin, apparent on magnetic stripes, initiates the Davie Transform (DFZ), which is largely developed within oceanic crust (Pheathan et al, 2016 ; Reeves, 2018). Oceanic spreading is now well established off Mozambique with the Limpopo Fracture Zone (LFZ) probably connecting this to the Proto Weddell Sea (PWS). Arguments for the Proto-Weddell Sea spreading in the Jurassic are presented in a research note by Reeves (2020). A transform-related rift is forming off the Angoche Basin of Mozambique, which will later be inverted. A correlation of organic marine shales at Late Jurassic level between DSDPs on the Maurice Ewing Bank (MEB, Macdonald et al, 2003) to those in the Algoa (AL,) and Gamtoos (GA) Basins (Mcmillan et al, 1997) in our opinion fixes the Late Jurassic relative positions of the African and South American plates (Falklands Plateau), supporting the reconstruction of Lovecchio et al, 2020. There is no Jurassic marine strata developed in any of the basins north and west of the Falklands so the marine link that develops in the Agulhas Basins at this time has to come from the East Falklands (EF) Basin, a.k.a. Falklands Plateau Basin. The first marine strata are encountered in the Gamtoos Basin in the Kimmeridgian while marine strata are not seen in the Bredasdorp (BD) Basin to the west till the Tithonian (Mcmillan et al, 1997). This pattern could be fitted to a model of suggested early transformal movement within the Late Jurassic bringing East Falklands Basin (EF) waters into juxtaposition with the Agulhas basins progressively from east to west. It may be that it is not the Agulhas fault itself that is moving at that time but another to the north which marks a sharp charge on the orientation of Jurassic rifts (Paton et al , 2023), which Total have also presented in their conference presentations. This interpretation would suggest that the Agulas Basins, and the More N-S trending rifts interpreted by Paton et al (2013) at this time, are transform-related passive rifts in common with most other African rifts. Bhattacharya and Duval (2016) also suggest that early transform movement on the Agulhas Fault caused the initiation of Late Jurassic rifts off the coast of Natal. Wrench movements are also described on the margins of the East Falklands Basin (EF), where on its southern ends, oceanic crust may be developing (Stanca et al, 2023 : Eagles and Eisermann, 2020). There is little evidence, either direct or indirect, for significant topography development in Africa during the Late Jurassic, other that interpreted by Charton et al (2021) in NW Africa, which does not tie to any significant sand input in the onshore and is therefore a doubtful interpretation. The Kimmeridgian is a period of relative global relative highstand. A wide carbonate-prone transgression of central eastern Africa occurs, encompassing the Blue Nile gorge and the Mekele inlier (ME). Papers in de Wit et al (2015) tentatively interpret Kimmeridgian shallow marine environments as far inland as the Cuvette Centrale (CC) of the DR Congo. The widespread nature of such transgressions support a model of generally low topography. Figure 9: Tectonics in the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) 152+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. Significant events are now occurring around southern Africa, with movements on transforms bringing marine waters into passive rifts in South Africa. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.8 Figure 10 : Late Valanginian to Early Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous) 134+-5Ma The Western Desert (WD) rift trend continues to propagate eastwards, now into the Hameimat (HA) Basin (Gras and Thusu, 1998). As in the Jurassic, the northern limit of the African plate remains a transform/oblique margin, although it is questionable whether the Eastern Mediterranean and Ionian oceans are still spreading. The only evidence that this is the case is that these transform-related passive rifts are still active and clearly require a driving force, which may be best provided by continuing movements along the margin. Clastic sedimentation rates rise substantially on NW African margins north of Senegal. Around 400,000 cubic kilometres of sediment (compacted, authors estimate from published cross-sections) are deposited between the Berriasian and Barremian in the Aaiun (AA) Delta, representing volumes and rates comparable to the Cenozoic Nile and Niger systems. Based on the scaling relationships developed between fans and catchment at Present Day by Somme et al (2009), a catchment area of the order of 106 km3 is required as well as a wet climate. AFTA data indicate a wide area of uplift and erosion at this time over the Reguibat (RE : Charton et al, 2021) and into the Taoudenni (TA) Basin (Girard, 2015), that must supply this depocentre. The sharpness of the increase in sedimentation rates and the change from carbonate to clastic dominated sedimentation at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary would suggest a sharp uplift, contrary to the interpretations of Charton et al (2021), who suggest the uplift commenced in the early Jurassic. The Moroccan carbonate bank terminates in response to this uplift and clastic influx, though the bank continues to form on the sediment starved Senegal margin. The whole of the African plate would appear now to be experiencing NE-SW stretching, creating a series of NW-SE passive rifts, bounded by E-W trending transforms. A wide, partly faulted depression (the ‘Afro-Brazilian depression, AFD) forms over what is now Gabon and NE Brazil, as a prelude to the main syn-rift phase (Chaboureau et al, 2013). A fine balance may have existed in these incipient rifts between sedimentation and subsidence, leading to fill by fluvial clastics. It is notable that rifting at this time is more intense off Gabon than it is in the Campos (CA) and Santos (SA) Basins, counter to the general northwards unzipping trend of South Atlantic basins. The Parana (PA)-Etendeka (ET) plume is represented by volcanics in SE Brazil, Namibia and Angola. Two further seed points are created for what will later become a connected dextral transform system crossing Africa (Ye et al, 2017): the Marajo Basin (MA) of Brazil (Costa et al, 2002) and a series of transforms in NE Brazil (Popoff,1988), while rifting spreads eastwards in the previously formed seed point in Sudan (Mchargue et al, 1992. It is notable that none of these rifts at this time can be driven by Atlantic rifting or spreading, which is the commonly assumed cause of the CARS system (Fairhead, 2022). The southern South Atlantic commences a process of step by step unzipping, with the first segment created between the Agulhas (AG) and Cape (CT) Transforms (Macdonald et al (2003). A Valanginian sequence is reported on seismic lines that is confined to this segment (K. Simons, 2021, pers comm, Geological Soc presentation). Rifting proceeds ahead of this as far as the Skeleton Rift (SR) to the north. South Atlantic rifting is thus propagating both from the north (see above) and from the south towards a point where the trends will eventually meet around northern Namibia. In the Orange (OR) Basin, a volcanic rifted margin is starting to form with the eruption of subaerial volcanic flows, now seen as a thick series of seaward dipping reflectors on seismic. The Falklands Ridge is now moving rapidly westwards along the Agulhas Fault. In East Africa, the Davie (DFZ) and associated transforms are now formed and are transporting Eastern Gondwana (Madagascar, India, Antarctica etc.) to the south (Reeves, 2018). The most intense activity lies on a trend from the Seagap Fracture Zone of Tanzania through to southwest offshore Mozambique, with numerous inversion structures developed and a possible accretionary prism developed off northwest Mozambique (Roche et al, 2023). The more outboard so-called ‘Davie-Walu’ trend, extending from Kenya to southern Tanzania seems to be a much less dramatic feature, as interpreted by Klimke and Franke (2016) and confirmed by structure maps that were briefly issued on a website to promote a Tanzanian deepwater licence round in 2013. We attribute this to the Davie-Walu trend off Tanzania likely lying over malleable oceanic crust. We therefore agree with that interpretation by Pheathan et al (2016) and those of British Gas geologists who have worked the area, that the Seagap Fault roughly marks the limit of oceanic crust at this time. Figure 10: Tectonics in the Late Valanginian to Early Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous), 134+-5Ma, Africa plate fixed and is widened slightly for this map and previous maps to account for widespread Early Cretaceous NE-SW extension. The First Atlantic oceanic crust forms off southern Namibia with the Parana-Etendeka volcanics being erupted later in the interval. Note the commonness of NW-SE trending rifts, probably transform-related passive rifts, at this time. This suggests the imposition of a NE-SW directed stress over the plate. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.9 Figure 11 : Barremian (Early Cretaceous) 123+-2Ma A reorganisation occurs at this time of the oceans north of Africa. In particular, spreading commences of the North Atlantic. The Azores-Gibraltar Transform (AGT) thus no longer accommodates Central Atlantic spreading (Handy et al, 2010). Spreading of the Ligurian Ocean also is now thought to end (Handy et al , 2010). The proposed transform-related passive rifts in the Western Desert and Cyrenaica also terminate, which may suggest the end of the spreading phase of the Ionian and Herodotus (Eastern Mediterranean) oceans. In Libya, rifting could have spread from the E-W trending Hameimat (HA) Basin to the main NW-SE trending Sirt (SI) Basin rifts, though there is poor control on this deep section (Hallett and Clark-Lowes, 2016). Activity in this area of Libya is attributed to the rise of a plume at the centre of the three Sirt rift arms (Hallett and Clark-Lowes, 2016) . The Termit (TM) and the Tenere (TN) Basins of Chad and Niger are reported to continue to rift (Genik, 1991), though data at this stratigraphic level is poor. Rifting spreads and intensifies through the various rifts of the Central African Rift System (Genik, 1991), including the Muglad (MU) and Melut (ME) rifts, with parts of the Benue Trough (BE) possibly becoming active around this time, dating again being unclear. Transform tectonics along the trend from the Marajo (MA) Basin to Sudan also intensifies but does not yet form a continuous trend (Ye et al, 2017). Much of this transform movement may now be driven by increased extension of the Southern Atlantic system, extending now from northern Namibia (Serica Energy, 2014) though Angola, Gabon and Brazil to eventually meet the transform system at the northern limit of the Tucano (TU) Basin. Peak rifting of the Gabon-Angola system seems to be achieved in the Barremian with deep anoxic lakes forming as subsidence overwhelms sedimentation (Chaboureau et al, 2013). Given this rift event follows the Parana plume and there are multiple unconformities suggesting periods of uplift (Araujo et al, 2023), plus there is clear exhumation of the lower crust and mantle (Heine, 2013), a process of ‘plume-related active rifting’ is indicated Further step-like advance of the southern South Atlantic ocean occurs northwards from the Cape Transform (CT) to Walvis Bay (WB) (Lovecchio et al, 2020), with a major volcanic centre developed in northern Namibia (Serica Energy, PETEX conference 2014). Movement on the Agulhas Transform inverts Jurassic rifts on the Diaz Ridge (DR, Paton et al 2023). Spreading of the various segments of the Indian Ocean is now N-S directed, with the Davie (DFZ) and Limpopo transforms both active (Rocheet al, 2023). A dominance of carbonates on the Somali margin passes southwards into that of clastics, which is likely an indicator of a contrast in hinterland topography as a high centred on the Tanzanian Craton starts a slow rise. Figure 11: Tectonics in the Barremian (Early Cretaceous), 123+-2Ma. Africa plate fixed. The transform phase in northern Africa ends at this time, with the bounding Tethyan oceans becoming dormant. Offshore Angola/Gabon and many Central African rifts are in peak syn-rift conditions. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. Africa, Widespread syn-rift conditions across continent on NW to NNW- SE to SSE trend. 3.10 Figure 12 : Aptian (Early Cretaceous) 118+-5Ma In North Africa, the Late Aptian ‘Austrian event’ includes a) a widespread uplift and unconformity of late Aptian age on which erosion increases towards the active Sirt rift, b) extensional faulting in Tunisia and offshore Libya and c) sinistral transpressional structuring along shear zones in eastern Algeria (Boote et al, 1998), plus possibly on the N-S axis of Tunisia (NS). The map shows a connection of lineaments, extending from the developing shear zones of central Africa/northeast Brazil (see below) to the Niger rifts and then through transforms to Tunisia, which can be construed as a segmentation of Africa into two plates (Guiraud et al, 2005). The trend may extend further to the northern Apulia plate margin, where the first significant ‘Eo-Alpine’ compressions are occurring (Handy et al, 2010). Bodin et al (2010) splits the ‘Austrian’ into two events in the Late Aptian and Middle Albian and correlates these to unconformities in the onshore Sirt (SI) and Gulf of Sirt (GOS) rifts. The observation of deep erosion on the rift shoulders and the development of a 'triple junction' between the three branches of the Sirt system suggests that these rifts were formed at this time as ‘active’ rifts associated with a large regional swell. However, a paucity of volcanism must be noted, which may challenge this interpretation. In Egypt, rifting switches to a more regionally consistent NW-SE trend (Moustafa, 2020). A continuous dextral shear system is now developed between the Marajo (MA) Basin and Sudan (Popoff, 1988; Ye et al, 2017), now integrating the youngest segment off Cote D’Ivoire (IV). We stress this is a system rather than a single zone as the Central African Rift continues into the Borborema Plateau of Brail, while the offshore system passes through the Benue Trough into Niger (Darros de Matos et al, 2021). Early stage uplift is suggested by AFTA data on the Leo (LEO) Massif (Wildman et al, 2022) that is speculated, together with much of the shearing in this region, to be related to the anticlockwise rotation of Africa relative to South America induced by South Atlantic extension. The Aptian within the Gabon/Angola/Brazil rift system presents unusual sedimentary facies that are partly a response to a progressive process of continental crust thinning in an active rift system preceding oceanic crust emplacement. Within the early Aptian, a series of symmetrical unfaulted ‘sag’ basins are created in proximal settings in the south of the area, the subsidence of which is related to migration of the lower crust towards the continents (Brune et al, 2014 , Chaboureau et al, 2013, Heine et al, 2013). These ‘sag basins’ are filled with lacustrine carbonates and organic shales that are thought to have been deposited hundreds of metres below sea level. A major peneplanation unconformity at ca 118Ma in southern Gabon (SG) and the Lower Congo (LC) Basin may, by analogy to continental margins with improved crustal seismic definition (e.g. Coral Sea unconformity in Papua New Guinea, Shakerley et al, 2019) be related to flow of ductile lower crust towards the continent, creating uplift inwards from the necking zone. Following this unconformity, sedimentation resumes of clastics in the north and of carbonates in the south (shown as underlay on map), with the chemistry of the carbonate waters showing a highly alkaline nature on both sides of the Atlantic (Ceraldi and Green, 2016), In the Campos(CA), Santos (SA) and Kwanza (KW) Basins, indicating a connected lake from which the carbonates are proposed to be have been precipitated (Wright, 2022) . Continuous oceanic ridge formation must clearly postdate the formation of this lake. Above these levels, the Late Aptian salt (purple hatch on map) was deposited between 116-114Ma (distribution after Borsato, 2012), possibly extending slightly later than this in some Brazilian basins (Araujo et al, 2023). This salt, like the Messinian of the Mediterranean, is thought to have been deposited well below sea level, so the input of marine waters must have been very slow, e.g. through groundwater seepage over the Rio Grande Ridge (I. Davison, pers. comm.). Recent work (e.g. Araujo et al, 2023) in the Santos (SA) and southern Benguela (BE) Basins concludes that there is a proximal to distal change from sag to rift settings at this time and that the salt in its most distal part was deposited in a syn-rift setting. Similar trends are seen off southern Gabon, where several large faults in distal settings clearly are synchronous or postdate salt deposition (R. Moeys, Shell, PESGB oral conference presentation, 2017). Further north, in northern Gabon (NG) /Brazil, the cross-sections of Caixeta et al (2014) show the Aptian salts of Africa and South America to be limited on both sides by footwall blocks, with a zone of Albian rifts developed between these and oceanic crust : breakup here is not therefore indicated until post-salt times, i.e. in the Albian. It is therefore now thought that first oceanic crust emplacement over most of the Gabon-northern Namibia segment of the south Atlantic did not occur till around 113-110 Ma (i.e. earliest Albian). An exception seems to be a zone off the Kwanza (KW) and northern Benguela (BE) Basins, where salt is reported to onlap oceanic crust Figure 12: Tectonics in the Aptian (Early Cretaceous), 118+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. A key event is the ‘Austrian’ event of north Africa, covering a period of uplift and transform movement. First oceanic crust is established off southern Angola. A major uplift event is developed over Angola/Gabon, indicative of mantle derived doming (active rift conditions), prior to breakup just above this interval. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text (Martin and Pascoe, 2020) and spreading was seemingly initiated around 117 Ma (Araujo et al, 2023, Figure 1 therein). The Gabon-Angola margin is now in a hyperextended state with the currently interpreted limit of oceanic crust having moved significantly oceanwards over early interpretations. The limit of oceanic crust shown here is largely after Baudino et al (2018). It is notable that the propagational relationships established for East Africa, progressively through time for rifting, marine transgression and continental breakup, are much less consistent here. Rifting clearly propagates both from the north and the south This is speculated to be partly due to the establishment of a passive rift over the Afro-Brazilian depression (Gabon-northern Brazil, see Figure 10) before the active rift phase started to form. The Rio Grande (RG) volcanic ridge seems to have held back marine waters from the south for nearly the entire rifting period, preventing an earlier transgression. The pattern of break-up, while broadly propagational from south to north, also shows irregularities in the trend, such as an earlier development off the Kwanza/Benguela Basin. . Within southern Africa, Moore and Larkin (2009) interpret the first phase of uplift of the southern Africa plateau, centred on the Cape Fold Belt. As the intensity of erosion in the Agulhas basins increases eastwards, this uplift may be driven by transpression caused by the Maurice Ewing Bank (MEB) passing on the Agulhas Fault. The first reservoir sands of the Orange Basin (OR) are input in the latest Aptian to earliest Albian and are probably a response to this uplift. 3.11 Figure 13 : Late Albian (end Early Cretaceous) 103+-4Ma Tectonic activity in North Africa is now concentrated in the NW-SE arm of the Sirt (SI) Basin, where a major unconformity at the top of the Late Albian separates non-marine from marine influenced strata, marking a major subsidence event. Jagger et al (2018) has suggested a reactivation of Ionian (IO) Sea spreading at this time, which would be a continuation of the trend of Sirt Basin rifting, though this model is not adopted here. South Atlantic spreading propagates rapidly northwards in the Albian, with the north Gabon (NG) – Sergipe Basin segment opening as a volcanic rifted margin in the early Albian (Caixeta et al, 2014), and now reaching as far as the E-W transform trend off Nigeria. This follows yet another case of a rift ‘jump’ as the Reconcavo-Tucano (TU) rift arm is abandoned. South America is now separating from Africa on fracture zones such as the Romanche and St Paul. Discontinuous segments of new transform-bounded ocean appear off Ghana by 105Ma, bounded by areas of hyperextension and severe crustal thinning : these do not join up into a continuous ocean for another 10Ma (Antobreh et al, 2009). This final separation is marked by gravitational collapses and major erosional unconformities. In the south, the final contact between African Plate and the Maurice Ewing Bank (MEB) also occurs around this time. Consequently from Cenomanian times onwards (circa 95Ma), a freely circulating Atlantic Ocean is formed, allowing features such as contourite currents and mounds to form (e.g. Mourlot et al, 2018). A sharp change occurs on the Senegal/Guinea (SE) margin from carbonates upwards into clastics in the Early Albian (Davison, 2005). This carbonates to clastics change is notably younger than in Morocco, this difference being related to differing ages of hinterland uplift in the two regions. New drainage systems seem to be sourced from the uplifted Leo Massif (LEO), where a watershed is evidenced by mineralogical contrasts between rivers draining north and south (Ye, pers comm. PESGB Presentation, 2021). The massif may have been formed by transpression as South America departs from Africa (Wildman et al, 2022). Most Central African rifts are, perhaps puzzlingly given the oceanic transform activity at this time, in a post-rift phase at this time, an exception being major rifting in Niger, which covers the Tenere (TN) as well as the Termit (TM) Basins (Ahmed et al, 2020). Figure 13: Tectonics in the Late Albian (end Early Cretaceous), 103+-4Ma. Africa plate fixed. The key event at this time is the final separation of the African and South American plates along transforms. Major rifting phase in Libya and Niger. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.12 Figure 14 : Santonian (Late Cretaceous) 86+-2Ma This interval captures the effects of a distinctive compressive and inversion event in the Santonian, the strongest of a series of ‘jolts’ imposed on Africa, generally from the Tethyan margin. The main cause of this is well established : at 86Ma, the African plate is demonstrated by paleomagnetic data to take a sharp turn and starts to drift northwards towards Europe (Guiraud & Bosworth, 1997). This causes rapid closure of the Izmir-Ankara Ocean (IZ), ophiolite (Oph) obduction and eventual collision of the Taurides and Pontides blocks (Menant et al, 2016). It commences a period of anticlockwise rotation of Africa versus Iberia and other European plates, initiating dextral wrench movements across north Africa. Consistent with this model inversions are most frequent in northeast Africa, particularly in Cyrenaica (CY), in the Western Desert (WD, Bosworth & Tari 2020), and in Israel and Syria (‘Syrian Arc I’, Shabar 1994). Dextral movement is also recorded on the Sinai Wrench (SW) System (Moustafa et al, 2013). In the Gabes (GA) and Sabratah (SA) Basins, the event interrupts a rift phase, with a major inversion structure developed under Djerba Island (DI). There are limited reports of dextral fault movements and inversions on the now-inactive Hameimat arm (HA, Gras and Thusu, 1998), of the Sirt Basin, which can be speculated from the map to be an extension of the Alamein (AL) inversion trend in Egypt. The continued extension in the NW-SE trending arm (Ajdabiya Trough, AJ) of the Sirt Basin (Abdunaser and McCaffrey, 2014) (Abadi et al, 2008), well after the plume-related active rift phase seems to have ended, could be related to movements on transforms along the NW African coast and from Hameimat into Egypt, similar to the model originally proposed by Antekell (1996). This model would make the Ajdabiya Trough a transform-related ‘passive rift’ at this time. The event, by comparison, is weak and localised in the Atlas (AT) mountains (Frizon et al, 2008). Major inversion is seen at this time in E-W trending basins of the Central African Rift System (Genik, 1991) and also along the Romanche transform (Davison et al, 2016). The Agadez Line in Niger is also reported to be active (Genik, 1991). It is somewhat difficult to link events in this region to the compression of northeast Africa, though a link through the Trans-African Lineament (TAL) is possible. Alternatively, this inversion trend is possibly related to a change in the relative spreading rates of different portions of the Atlantic, part of a general plate reorganisation associated with the event. Due to rapid ongoing fault subsidence on NW-SE trending basins (transform-related passive rifts) at this time, deep marine strata are developed in the interior of Africa in the Termit (TM) Basin (Ahmed et al, 2023). Inversion in the Benue (BE) Trough has likely blocked the earlier connection between the Tethyan and South Atlantic oceans (Bonne,2014). Inversion effects in eastern Africa of interpreted Santonian age extend through the Mandera Lugh (ML) Basin of Kenya (Bosworth, 1992). Possible extensions of Late Cretaceous tectonics extend further south into offshore East Africa, though the precise dating of events is poor and the consensus seem to be a peak rather older than the Santonian, around Turonian times. Some anticlines of around this age have been informally reported in industry presentations over the Kenyan and Tanzanian offshore (Macgregor, 2018 and references therein), while Klimke and Francke (2016) date movements on the Walu Ridge offshore Kenya as around Turonian (100Ma) in age. It is likely that movements on the Seagap Fracture Zone (SG) are reversed at or around this time: this is clearly seen as a sinistral offset of older deepwater channels on 3D seismic (Iacopini et al 2022), which date the change to sinistral movement at 94-72Ma, which would cover the Santonian, though De Franca (2012) places the reversal at around Turonian times . AFTA data and increasing sedimentation rates also indicate the uplift of a large area of Kenya and Tanzania (TC) (Noble, 1997), including the deeply eroded rift shoulders of the active Anza Rift (AN, Morley et al, 1997). Unpublished Zircon Fission Track Data from Tanzanian sediments (Geotrack pers comm, PESGB presentations) indicate the Tanzanian high likely formed the African watershed. A volcanic event occurs in the Turonian centred on Madagascar, termed the ‘Marion Plume’. The topographic model for the Southern Africa Plateau (SAP) from now on follows the ‘Hybrid Late’ model of Stanley et al (2021) who summarise the evidence for (and against) Late Cretaceous and Neogene uplift phases. It is accepted that a major expansion of the South African plateau occurs between 93-66Ma (Baby et al, 2018). Effects are also seen on AFTA profiles as far into the interior as Zambia (Daly et al, 2020). The broad nature of the uplift and the association with alkaline magmatism and kimberlites at this time seemingly point to a mantle origin for the uplift, possibly associated with a Present Day S wave velocity in the lower mantle. The uplift and increasingly wet climate cause an increase in clastic sedimentation rate and progradation in various associated sinks, including the Orange (OR) and Zambezi (ZA) deltas. Figure 14: Tectonics in the Santonian (Late Cretaceous), 86+-2Ma. Africa plate fixed. A rapid change in of movement of African plate relative to western Tethyan plates causes closure of the Izmir-Ankara Ocean, ophiolite obduction in that area and an inversion event in many interior and some African offshore basins. Effects are felt as far as offshore Ghana and Kenya. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.12 Figure 15 : Maastrichtian to Danian (K-T Boundary) 66+-4Ma There is a return to relative tectonic quiescence from the. Differing authors disagree whether the Sirt (SI) Arm is still in a syn-rift phase or has entered the post-rift (Abdunaser and Mcafferty, 2014), but the stretching factor has certainly decreased since the Santonian (Abadi et al, 2008). A second phase of inversion affects the Western Desert (WD) basins and Cyrenaica (Martin et al, 2008), and is probably associated with the final collision of the Pontides and Taurides Plates. The Sinai Wrench (SW) system is also active (Moustafa et al, 2013). These events can be viewed as a milder and less extensive version of the Santonian event. The E-W trending transtensional basins along the Central African lineament have become inactive (Genik, 1991), while uplift and erosion affect the Tenere (TN) and Termit (TM) Basins of Niger from the Maastrichtian onwards (Ahmed et al, 2020), terminating the marine inlet there. A similar decrease in the intensity of rifting is observed in the Sudan Basins (Mchargue et al, 1992), though the Anza (AN) Basin is at peak rifting (Morley et al, 1999), illustrating a lack of correlation of tectonic events between these two sets of basins. Although other authors have connected the Muglad (MU) and Anza (AN) Basins by a wrench system, Macgregor (2018) invokes different causes for the two, with the Muglad being a passive rift associated with the major transform to the north and the Anza being an active rift, as suggested by geochemical evidence for very high rift shoulders, connected to the Tanzanian Craton uplift (TC). However, neither set of rifts show significant igneous activity. The KT boundary coincides with the Deccan Plume basalts of India, which also cover the Seychelles microcontinent. The South African plateau (SAP) has been uplifted between 93-66Ma (Baby et al, 2018) so topography has expanded considerably since the Santonian. A sharp reduction occurs in the Danian in sedimentation rates in all surrounding sinks (Macgregor, 2012). A number of ideas can be considered to explain such a sharp change : the most obvious is a sharp drying of the climate in that region, which essentially freezes the topography established at that time. Another possible explanation may be that erosion at that time reached the Karoo volcanic cap, which is known to be very resistant to erosion. Figure 15: Tectonics in the Maastrichtian to Danian (K-T Boundary), 66+-4Ma. Africa plate fixed. A tectonically quiescent period follows the Santonian event which is interrupted by another ‘jolt’ in NE Africa, likely due to the collision of Turkish platelets. There is a return to quiescence thereafter. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.13 Figure 16 : Ypresian (earliest Eocene) 50+-4Ma. Paleocene to Mid Eocene times represent a relatively stable and quiescent period in terms of tectonics, erosion, sedimentation and climate. Africa is now closing on various European platelets, but the convergence seems to cause only localised tectonic activity on the African plate. Significant early post-rift subsidence characterises many of the Sirt (SI) rifts (Abdunaser and Mcafferty, 2015), though the offshore Gulf of Sirt (GOS) may still be rifting (Fiduk, 2009). A further inversion phase occurs in Cyrenaica, though only of the Jebel El Akhbar (JEA) rift (Martin et al, 2008). Northern Africa appears to have been topographically low, as evidenced by the dominance of carbonates, which indicate clear clastic free water, and the wide extent of marine transgressions, penetrating as far as the Iullemeden (IU) Basin (Moody, 1997). The NW-SE trending Central African rifts (TM, TN, ME, MU) enter another syn-rift phase (Genik, 1991), suggesting that the Central African transform systems are once again reactivated and is probably connected to Atlantic fracture systems. The Anza rift of Kenya (AN) also remains in a syn-rift phase, following a regional uplift of northern Kenya in the Latest Cretaceous to Paleocene (Morley et al, 1999). The widespread nature of bauxites (Burke and Gunnell, 2008) over much of the continent suggest very slow erosion over the Paleocene to Eocene, leading to the development of a bevelled (though not necessarily low) surface over much of the plate, often termed the ‘African Surface’. These are taken as indicators of an expanded zone of a warm humid ‘drizzly’ climate, covering most of the plate, leading to generally low sedimentation rates. Sedimentation rates are consequently low on the margins of the continent, with the notable exception of the Niger Delta (ND), which is thought to have been initiated in the Paleocene (Macgregor, 2012b; Bonne ,2014). A climatic explanation for the low Paleogene sedimentation rates in sinks surrounding the South African Plateau is preferred here to a model invoking removal by rapid earlier erosion of the Late Cretaceous topography. Figure 16: Tectonics in the Ypresian (earliest Eocene), 50+-4Ma. Africa plate fixed. This interval is representative of a wide period of relative quiescence from the Danian to Priabonian. Significant extension however continues in NW-SE trending rifts within Central Africa. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.14 Figure 17 : Priabonian (Late Eocene) 35+-4Ma . The previously quiescent tectonics of the Mid Eocene are broken by the first of two periods of compression in the Atlas (AT, Frizon et al, 2011), dated as Middle to Late Eocene. From now on ‘jolts’ to the African Plate system will come from the northwest as well as the northeast. The Iberian plate collides with Europe, creating the ‘Pyrenean’ events (PY). The degree of compression at this time seems to have been greater in Morocco than in Tunisia (Said et al, 2011). The first of a number of transpressional events are described along the Sabratah Fault (SA, Reeh and Reston (2014), Boote et al, 2015). Carbonate, occasionally evaporite, facies continue dominate in north African margins, indicative of a continuing lack of topography and suggesting that the topography developed with the Atlassic event at this time was limited. Molassic deposits are absent in the Eocene and less well developed or extensive in the Oligocene than they were in the Pliocene (Frizon et al, 2011) ; this suggests the phases of deformation at this time were less intense than in younger intervals. The Western Desert of Egypt (WD) suffers another inversion event (Bosworth and Tari, 2021). Activity continues in the Central African Rift System, with continued extension of the Sudan rifts, contemporaneous with inversion in the Doba (DO) Basin. The Melut (ME) rift appears more active than the Muglad (MU), with faulting now rotating from a previous NW-SE trend to NNW-SSE (McHargue et al, 1992). A similar change in fault orientation is reported from the Tenere (TN) Basin of Niger (Ahmed et al, 2023). This period therefore seems to make the end of the long lived NW-SE rift trend of Africa and a change in regional stress direction. The first Ethiopian volcanics are erupted between 45-34Ma (Rooney, 2017). Some small rifts in NW Kenya (Wescott et al 1999) and the Broadly Rifted Zone (BRZ) of Ethiopia may start to gently subside at this time, which could be considered the first ‘EARS’ Rifts, though dating is uncertain. The earliest Tertiary alkaline volcanics over north African swells are recorded on the Ahaggar (AH) Massif (Swezey, 2009). Sinistral strike slip movement recommences on the Seagap Fracture Zone (SG) offshore Tanzania (Iacopini et al, 2022) and possibly, by inference, also on the Davie Fracture Zone. De Franca (2012) interprets this as the most significant period of sinistral movement that occurred since reversal in the Late Cretaceous. The causes of this are still unknown. Inversion occurs in the Anza (AN) Basin (Morley et al, 1999), which may be linked. The Niger (ND) again is the dominant depocenter in terms of sedimentary rate and volumes (Macgregor, 2012a), characterised by a thick shale prone sedimentary pile, suggesting a very wide catchment. Figure 17: Tectonics in the Priabonian (Late Eocene) 35+-4Ma Africa plate fixed. The quiescent period ends, with the first, albeit mild, compressions in Atlas as well as further inversion in NE Africa. Onset of Ethiopian volcanism. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.15 Figure 18 : Rupelian (Early Oligocene ) 30+-5Ma Compressional activity continues in Iberia and on the southern margin of the European plate but does not transmit into Africa. The interval lies at the end of the first ‘Atlassic’ phase (AT) of Frizon et al (2011), marked by the deposition of conglomerates in the foreland. A backarc basin has now formed (at 32Ma) between Iberia and Alkapeca (Carminati et al, 2010), which will eventually spread to create the Western Mediterranean Ocean. The only member of the Sirt rift population still active is the Hon Graben (HON, Abunaser and McAfferty, 2015). Central African Rift System extensional movements now seem to be confined to the Sudanese and Niger rifts. Rifting trends continue to migrate towards a more N-S trend, with the Melut Basin (ME) now more active than the Muglad (MU) Basin (Mchargue et al, 1992). It is speculated that an E-W transform trend across northern Central Africa may have been active at this time (Guiraud et al, 1995). This transform, referred to in the Niger literature as the’ Agadez Line’, forms the sharp boundary between the Tenere (TN) rift, which is highly inverted at 25Ma (Liu et al, 2017) and the Termit (TM) Basin, which shows only very localised inversion (Ahmed et al, 2020). Guiraud et al (1995) interpret this transform, also active in Niger in the Santonian (Genik, 1991), to periodically extend across Africa, extending to the Guinea lineaments of southern Egypt in the east and to Senegal in the west. The South Lokichar (SL) Basin forms the first clearly evidenced rift of the East African Rift System (Macgregor, 2015 and references therein: Purcell, 2018), being thought to be the earliest rift within a first cycle of rifting confined to Kenya and southern Ethiopia. A mild rifting and filling episode also occurs in the multi-phase Rukwa (RU) Basin (Morley et al, 1999b). . Rifting starts in the Gulf of Aden (GoA) at 31Ma, initially on NNW-SSE trends (Purcell 2018) and in the southernmost Red Sea a few Ma later, stalling at this time offshore Eritrea (Bosworth and Stockli, 2016). The topography of Africa starts to undergo changes at this time, representing a significant stage in the formation of the ‘basin and swell’ topography of Africa and the modern river systems associated with this new topography (e.g. Burke et al, 2003). Based on the dating of associated volcanism, the swells forming or expanding at this time include the Ahaggar (AH, Swezey,2009), the Afar plume (AF,. Sengor, 2001) and a curving axis through the northern part of the South African Plateau (SAP, Moore et al, 2009, Daly et al, 2020). The latter uplift leads to rapid sedimentation rate rises and the input of sands to the Congo and Rovuma sinks. The Ethiopian traps (ET) erupt on the Afar Plume from 30-31Ma (Rooney, 2017). Many offshore basins show major erosive unconformities at varying levels in the Oligocene, indicating relative uplift of the basin margins (e.g. Angola, Macgregor 2012a). Volcanism in the Cameroon Line (CL) starts to migrate offshore (Burke, 2001). Figure 18: Tectonics in the Rupelian (Early Oligocene ) 30+-5Ma. Africa plate fixed. The key event at this time is a re-organisation of topography as the first significant ‘basins’ and ‘swells’ start to form. This is also around time of onset of the first significant N-S trending East African Rifts. Eruption of the Afar Plume volcanics precedes much of this active rifting phase. The map in the Niger area shows a localised (~25Ma) transform and inversion event. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.16 Figure 19 : Late Burdigalian to Langhian (latest Early to Mid Miocene) 15+-3Ma The Alkapeca set of plates detach from the Iberian Plate around 21Ma (Carminati et al , 2012). Over a period of only around 3Ma, this new Western Mediterranean ocean (WMED) spreads, with the Kabylies Plate (KA) then colliding with Africa to create the Tellian (TE) structural event and nappe, while the Alboran (AL) Plate is squeezed westwards between Iberia and Africa, initiating the Rif (RI) mountain chain and a large olistostrome in the Rharb Basin (RH). These deformations do not seem to significantly extend in Algeria beyond the Tellian thrust front and do not seem to affect the Saharan Atlas (AT , Frizon et al, 2011) . Subduction of the Eastern Mediterranean commenced at around 20Ma, following the accretion of Turkish microplates (Menant et al, 2016) . An associated phase of folding and transform activity occurs in the Levantine Basin (LE), transmitted along transforms parallel to the Lebanon margin (Papadimitriou et al, 2018). Oceanic crust is now being established at the easternmost limit of the Gulf of Aden (GoA, Purcell, 2018) and will propagate westwards through the Mid to Late Miocene. The unzipping trend of rifting in the Red Sea (RS) has advanced northwards substantially, having reached the Gulf of Suez at 24Ma (Bosworth and Stockli, 2016), with a peak of rift shoulder uplift around the Red Sea around 20Ma. At 14Ma, the Dead Sea Transform is created, marking the end of syn-rift conditions in the Gulf of Suez (GoS). This period marks the end of the first phase of EARS rifting, which are confined to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, and the start of a second more extensive phase (Macgregor, 2015: Purcell, 2018) . Rifting in the South Lokichar (SL) area jumps eastwards to Lake Turkana (TU), forming an analogy for the ‘rift jump’ hypotheses proposed earlier on many African continental margins. In addition to a spread of rifting southwards into the Gregory (GR) area of Kenya, the Aswa (AS) transform is created and rifting commences in the northernmost rifts of the Western Branch. The first rift fill of the Albertine (AL) Rift of Uganda was deposited at around 17Ma. Volcanism continues in Ethiopia, now becoming more areally limited and shield like and starts to expand southwards into Kenya, with the extensive Kenya phonolites erupted at 13.5-11.5 Ma (Macgregor, 2015). Rift propagation also extends north of Kenya creating continuous extension across the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER).The association with volcanism and high rift shoulders suggests predominantly plume-related active rift conditions. In west Africa, Cameroon Line (CL) volcanism is extended onto oceanic crust (Burke, 2001) The African basin and swell system is now becoming more pronounced, particularly in NE Africa, where the initiation of additional swells are suggested by volcanic ages (Swezey, 2009) and by increasing sedimentation in the Nile depocenter (Macgregor, 2012b). The rising Red Sea rift shoulders also supply significant sediment to the Nile system. Miocene uplift is interpreted paralleling the West African margin from Equatorial Guinea southwards (Lavier et al, 2001; Macgregor 2012a). Figure 19: Tectonics in the Late Burdigalian to Langhian (latest Early to Mid Miocene), 15+-3Ma. Africa plate fixed. Key events are plate collisions on the northern margin, namely that of the Kabylies block with Africa (Tellian event), plus a collision of Turkish blocks with Arabia, giving rise to inversions in the Levantine Basin. The Eastern Mediterranean starts to subduct. The Gulf of Aden is opening and the Dead Sea transform is created, separating the Arabian Plate. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. 3.17 Figure 20 : Late Messinian to Zanclean (Early Pliocene) 5+-2Ma The main phase of compressional tectonics in the Maghreb and Atlas (AT) likely commences in the Tortonian and peaks in the Pliocene (Roure et al, 2012, Said et al, 2011, Frizon et al, 2008). The event is accompanied by the creation of an accretionary prism along the southern edge of the Algerian (AL) ocean (Strzwezynski et al, 2021). A new northern boundary to the African plate has been created through the island of Sicily as the Tyrrhenian Sea (TY) opens and Calabria moves eastwards on a transform. Maltese rifts (MA) form in the foreland to the Sicily Fold Belt and can be considered, together with NW-SE trending rifts developed in Tunisia at this time, as Mountain-related Passive Rifts under the Merle (2011) classifcation. Folding, often associated with wrench movements, also affects the Nile Delta. Salt is deposited in at least three phases over the Latest Tortonian and Messinian across deep parts of the Mediterranean (purple hatches). Spreading commences in the southern part of the Red Sea (RS), though the northern part is thought to remain in a magma-poor hyperextended state (Stockli and Bosworth, 2018). EARS rifting, particularly of the Western Branch, has now propagated considerably southwards. All rift basins between the Albertine Basin (AL) and Lake Malawi (LM) are now active, the latter forming at ca. 7Ma. (Macgregor, 2015) . A northwards propagation is interpreted in Ethiopia, to now form a continuous rift system through the Western Branch there. A new offshore branch was also created in the Late Miocene, typified by the Kerimbas (KE) and Lacerda (LA) Basins offshore Mozambique (Franke et al, 2015). East African (EARS) rifts show many contrasts at this time. In particular, there are contrasting degrees of volcanicity, associations with mantle S wave velocities (where such data is available), and in the dimensions of rift shoulders. The magma-rich Eastern Branch rifts have been taken to be the archetypal ‘active ‘ rifts (e.g. Allen and Allen, 2013, Merle, 2011). The Western Branch, which expands considerably at this time, is much less magma-rich but has high rift shoulders, so shows a character intermediate between the defining characteristics of ‘active’ and ‘passive’ rifts (Frizon et al, 2015) and does not show characteristics typical of any the rift categories of Merle (2011). Michon et al (2022) points out that the entire EARS geometry and history cannot be attributed to purely ‘active’ or ‘passive’ models, interpreting that a plume-related (i.e. active) phase transitions around this time to a ‘plate-scale rifting’ phase, inferred to have a greater passive element. Heat flows measured from wells in the Albertine and Rukwa Basins seem low for an ‘active’ rift (Macgregor, 2020). Yu et al (2020) suggests that the Malawi Rift opens through crustal stretching associated with the rotation of the Victoria Plate, itself caused by Eastern Branch opening, though this model fails to explain the high rift shoulders. Until such time that there is more complete mantle imaging over both branches, the nature of the relationship between the two onshore branches thus remains uncertain. The offshore rifts that also develop at this time off Tanzania and Madagascar do not seem to be connected by any lineaments to those in the onshore and show neither significant magmatism nor high rift shoulders. These may be transtensional in origin (i.e. transform-related passive rifts), evidencing continued sinistral movements on the Seagap and Davie Fracture Zones (Iacopini et al, 2022). The compilation of a model that honours the observations in these contrasting East African rifts is another research item recommended by this study. Current studies tend to be too areally confined to develop a common model. Uplift occurs over large parts of Central and Southern Africa from 11-3Ma (Guillocheau, et al, 2015). There is considerable debate over the magnitude of Neogene uplift of the South African Plateau (SAP), with researchers essentially falling into two camps, one considering that the plateau is essentially a Late Cretaceous feature and the other that there a second phase of kilometre scale in the Late Neogene uplift, arguments for each being summarised by Stanley et al (2021). The latter model is favoured by the immature nature of the drainage in the region (Roberts and White, 2010) and by significant sediment volumes off the wetter eastern coast (Baby et al, 2019). Stanley et al (2021) shows that both models remain possible with the available evidence: we choose to adopt her ‘Hybrid Late’ model based on the evidence summarised above. Figure 20: Tectonics in the Late Messinian to Zanclean (Early Pliocene) 5+-2Ma. Africa plate fixed. The southern portion of Red Sea opens. The Pliocene is a peak of activity over much of the EARS, which has now significantly expanded, propagating southwards. The peak of compression occurs in the Atlas. 3.18 Figure 21 : Holocene Active faults on this map are mapped from earthquakes. The main source used is Meghraoui ,2016.The map shows active volcanoes as purple triangles, those with mild activity in pink and recently extinct ones in orange. Evolution of the African plate continues, with collision between Cyprus and the Eratosthenes Plateau (EP) having now occurred, and the remaining sections of the eastern Mediterranean subducting rapidly. A new subduction zone may now be in the process of being established below northern Algeria (AL), evidenced by earthquake epicentre depths and geothermal anomalies (Strzwezynski et al 2021). Existing EARS rifts in the second phase remain in syn-rift conditions. The system is still expanding, with a new southwestern branch now established through Kariba (KA) to the Etosha (ET) Basin, sometimes exploiting earlier Permian rifts, while other splays to the southwest initiate basins under Lakes Mweru (LMW) and Upemba (LU) (Macgregor, 2015). Significant crustal thinning is interpreted over parts of this trend (Daly et al, 2020), suggesting that active rift models apply, further confusing the picture discussed in Section 3.17. Daly proposes that the ‘Somali Plate’ and the ‘San’ Plate, (containing South Africa) are in the process of rifting off the African (Nubian) Plate. Most surrounding oceans are spreading in parallel with the Africa plate, which would therefore be expected to be under compression : this is clearly not the case, indicating that there are other active forces below the plate itself. This has indeed been the case since breakthrough of the South Atlantic into the Central Atlantic at the start of the Late Cretaceous. Africa, particularly southern Africa, now contains the largest regions of high topography in the world that are not associated with plate boundaries, volcanism or collision. This anomalously high topography is concentrated along an NNE-SSW axis between the South African plateau and the Red Sea, including the unusually high and wide East African rift shoulders. Imaging of the mantle from S wave velocity analysis suggest that this is related to a mantle convection cell that rises from the lower mantle below South Africa to an eruption in the southern Red Sea (Adams and Nyblade, 2011). Some other regions are still actively uplifting, e.g. the margins of the Kwanza (KW) Basin (Lavier et al, 2001), testified by a lack of navigable rivers, particularly in West Africa. Figure 21: Tectonics in the Holocene 0Ma .The area of EARS rifting expands further, particularly along a reactivation of the ‘STASS’ trend of southern Africa. The African Plate may be staring starting to segment. Subduction may be staring of the Western Mediterranean while collision with Anatolia is ongoing. Abbreviations relate to locations identified in text. Topography after NOAA. 4. Discussion This section looks at the continent wide trends that are apparent on the map and discusses some of the main remaining uncertainties, which if they could be resolved, would improve these maps in future. 4.1 Continental Margins Our knowledge of Africa’s continental margins has grown substantially in recent years, even though all data may not yet be in the public domain. No longer do we consider a continent-ocean boundary but instead we consider a wide transition zone between thick continental crust and pure oceanic crust. The only exceptions are the sharp transform margins. In the margins we understand the best, particularly West Africa, a migration of tectonic activity is observed, outboard towards the eventual split zone. An oceanward younging model also applies to the age of volcanism on volcanic rifted margins. There is a tendency in some literature to assume that the whole of an ocean opens as a unit at a specific age and therefore to take evidence from one point and apply it to the whole ocean. The maps compiled here strongly favour models of propagation of continental breakup, trends which are sometimes termed ‘unzipping’. This word is perhaps a simplification as what seems to happen on margins that are currently active (Gulf of Aden to Red Sea) and in those with well defined magnetic stripes (e.g. southern South Atlantic), is that spreading jumps sharply to and then stalls on some major transforms. This step-like unzipping is shown particularly well on the South Atlantic magnetic stripe maps of Perez-Diaz and Eagles (2017). On a broad scale , there are five such ‘unzipping’ trends identified around the African plate (Figure 22) : 1) from the Neotethys off the Middle East (Triassic spreading), to Bajocian spreading of the Alpine Ocean ; 2) a N-S propagation of the Central Atlantic through the Jurassic to Guyana and possibly then into the Proto-Caribbean ; 3) from Iran through the Somali Basin to the Indian Ocean off Mozambique, initiations ranging from Early to Late Jurassic; 4) from a Valanginian initiation of the southernmost South Atlantic, younging northwards to the final separation of South America off the Equatorial Margin in earliest Cenomanian, and 5) the Neogene to Recent northwards propagation of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The initial propagation point does not in any of these cases correspond to a volcanic plume. There are exceptions on a more local scale to the propagational model, particularly the early establishment of oceanic crust off the Benguela Basin of Angola, and more may well exist at this scale. These observations clearly have implications for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms under which continents split. This study also shows the complexity of margins, and in particular how rapidly a margin type can change. Under half (45%) of Africa’s margins in length fit the traditional rifted margins model (Figure 22) of rifted/hyperextended margins, the type examples being the Red Sea and the Gabon to Angola salient of the South Atlantic. 35% formed initially as transform or highly oblique margins, (including most of north Africa , the Agulhas margin and much of the Equatorial Margin). 20% formed as volcanic rifted margins, which are concentrated in southern Africa. Classifications for all margins are shown on Figure 22. Some margins show characteristics of more than one of the three types, so the three terms should be regarded as end-members. The concentration of volcanic rifted margins in southern Africa clearly indicates an availability of magma in this region, something that is also represented at other times in southern Africa’s geological history and a trend which seems to be independent of continental drift. 4.2 Intracratonic Rifts The existence of rifts on all 19 of the maps testifies to long lived stress over the African plate. Over the Late Jurassic to Cretaceous, this tensional stress seems to have been orientated NE-SW, as evidenced by the dominant NW-E orientation of transform-related passive rifts. It then seems to swing to N-S in the Paleogene. The rotation of Africa that set in in the Santonian could be related to this change, However, such long lived stress is not from what would be expected from the existence of spreading ridges surrounding the continent since the Albian and still presents a puzzle. Rifts are most significant in the Permian of southern Africa, Late Triassic of north Africa, Early Cretaceous of central Africa and the Neogene of east Africa (Figure 22). As for the margins, every conceivable model for the generation of rifts can be observed, though they can be difficult to classify. The best-case classification, using Merle (2011)’s system, is shown on Figure 22. At Permian times, inversion-prone transform-related (possibly mountain-related) passive rifts are observed along a large transform in southern Africa, together with other rifts in the same category perpendicular to it. This model seems to be repeated for the Cretaceous Central Africa Rift systems and more doubtfully for the Agulhas Rifts of South Africa in the Late Jurassic. As a result, of Merle (2011)’s six classes of rift, the commonest in Africa are the transform-related passive category. Clear models are more difficult to develop for northern Africa Mesozoic rifts, but hypotheses have been generated that require further analysis. The E-W trending Western Desert and Cyrenaica rifts are suggested to be transtensional in origin (i.e. transform-related passive rifts) that are parallel and coeval with a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous transform along the Egyptian coast , with the Honduran Borderland rifts/Cayman Trough providing a geometric analogue. Although the Eastern Branch EARS rifts can be clearly demonstrated to be active rifts, the models for other EARS rifts is uncertain, particularly in the Western Branch, where a sparcity of magmatism accompanies the development high rift shoulders. There is a clear need for a wide scale overview study of the genesis of EARS rifts and, as part of this, for more stress data deep geophysical data ; most current studies are limited to on or two rifts. A few older rifts seem to be in a class of their own, being seemingly isolated from any other rifts or controlling transforms. Examples include the early stage of rifting of the Sirt Basin and the Anza Basin. Both of these show a lack of correlation of subsidence events with nearby rifts, high and wide deeply eroded rift shoulders and little associated volcanism These most readily fit the characteristics of plumerelated ‘active’ rifts, although, as in the Western Branch of the EARS, the absence of significant magmatism does question this. The Sirt Basin is here interpreted as an active rift that later evolved into a passive rift, whereas the earliest Cretaceous Afro-Brazilian Depression is suggested to be the opposite, i.e. a passive rift that later evolved into an active rift and then a hyperextended continental margin. Perhaps such changes in the mechanisms of rifts over time may be common extensional faullts are well known to exploit previously developed weaknesses, whatever their cause. Africa does therefore show a full diversity of different types of rift with different causal mechanisms. Such differences will be reflected in subsidence histories and stratigraphic responses. Workers on these rifts therefore need to great care in applying analogues from one rift to its neighbours. 4.3 Inversions Major compressional tectonics are limited to the Permo-Trias of the Cape Fold Belt and the Neogene of NW Africa .These are the only cases of collision with other continents. However, transpressional ‘shocks’ to the relatively calm and predominantly extensional system of the African plate are delivered at several times, in the Aptian, Maastrichtian, early Oligocene and early-mid Miocene, together with a more regional event in the Santonian. These events are confined to or increase in intensity to the north of the plate, particularly the north-east ; most can be tied to Tethyan/Alpine Belt events .The Santonian event is tied to the commencement of an anticlockwise rotation of Africa relative to Europe and to consequential intra-Anatolian collisions. A Burdigalian-Langhian event in the Levantine Basin is tied to the collision of Arabia with Anatolia. 4.4. Major Transforms Roughly a third of the African plate was during its breakup bounded by transforms. The orientations and timings of these are well understood, with the exception of those on the northern margin. A model has been put forward for the northern margin here, comprising two major Jurassic transforms and a transfer zone in the Gulf of Sirt, for which the analogue is the geometry associated with the two major Cretaceous transform faults of the Equatorial Margin. However, the model remains hypothetical and needs to be reviewed when more seismic evidence becomes available, particularly in areas such as the Gulf of Sirt. It is also suggested that transform activity commenced earlier than commonly assumed on the Agulhas (south) margin, i.e. in the Mid-Late Jurassic, though not necessarily involving the Agulhas Fault itself. To date there are only three confirmed long transforms crossing the plate active in Mesozoic times, which are the Central African Lineament , the Southern TransAfrica Shear System (STASS) and the system of N-S Algerian transforms active in the Aptian. This seems surprising given the proliferation of transform-related passive rifts in the continent. If the causal mechanism for the Santonian inversion event lies on the Tethyan margin, how can central African basins be affected without connecting transforms?. We support the interpretation of Guiraud et al (1985) that a transform links the Guinea lineaments of southern Egypt to the Senegal Fracture Zone, running through the Agadez Line of Niger. The Agadez Line is thought to have been active in the same phases as the Central African lineament, in the Santonian and Oligocene, within Niger separating inverted rifts to the north from non-inverted rifts to the south. The same trend also seems to form a southern boundary to the Gao Rift in Mali. A second candidate for a significant Mesozoic transform is a reactivation of the Late Proterozoic to Paleozoic Trans-African Lineament. This lineament extends from the Benue Trough, defines the southern boundary of the East Niger rifts, runs as a gravity anomaly through Chad, and more doubtfully through a data poor area in the Kufra Basin of Libya to the inverted Bahariya Basin of the Egyptian Western Desert. It could extend from there into the Pelusium Line of the Levantine Basin. Activation of the entire lineament, at least in Santonian to Maastrichtian times, would explain similarities in the tectonic histories of the Western Desert and Benue Trough, which are the two best known inverted rifts in Africa. These possible regional transforms are shown with question marks on the relevant time periods and on Figure 22. There are undoubtedly more. This is clearly a subject for further work, incorporating potential field analyses. 4.5 Uplifts and Paleotopography The only current high topography in Africa that can be related to recent orogenesis is the Atlas mountains. For others we must seek other explanations, in particular for the ‘basin and swell’ topography across the continent. Circular highs of circa 1.5km relief in northern Africa, that are capped by mantle derived alkali volcanic seem to fit well into a model of rises in the asthenosphere, particular as some e.g. in Algeria have positive heat flow anomalies associated with them (Macgregor, 2020). The Southern Africa Plateau seems to be a larger and more complex feature, with perhaps multiple phases of uplift to it and there no generally accepted model for its cause other than a loose association with a low velocity anomaly in the lower mantle (Adams and Nyblade, 2011, Stanley et al, 2021). That it sits surrounded on three sides by large areas of Cretaceous volcanic rifted margin and magmatic crust is another key observation. A third topography type is represented by the enigmatic uplifts semi-paralleling rifted margins, with the Reguibat of NW Africa a type example (Charton et al, 2021). Palaeotopography inboard of the East African margin appears to have show similarities, with evidence of circa 3km of uplift in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene (Noble et al, 1997). Both regions have very high sediment thicknesses offshore, a product at least partly of the erosion of these highs, suggesting that one of the physical mechanisms at play is isostacy, i.e. weight is removed from a high onshore and transferred to the adjoining sink, causing a rebound in the onshore and subsidence in the offshore. However, the scale of the uplifts suggests that there must be other forces in play as well. Figure 22: A summarised tectonic elements map of the Africa plate. Rifts are assigned to stratigraphic intervals by the colour in the key to the map. Types of rift according to Merle (2011) scheme with proposed causal mechanism in green bold : P/A : Plume Related/Active Rift, M/A : Mountain Related/Passive Rift, P/A : Transform Related/Passive Rift. Interpretation of Margin Tectonics in black bold : RM=Rifted Margin (magma-poor), VRM= Volcanic Rifted Margin (magma-rich), TR=Transform Margin, OM=Oblique Margin, MAG=Magmatic Crust. Hatched areas show regions of crustal thinning between Necking Zones and True Oceanic Crust. Ages of Emplacement of First Oceanic Crust in blue italics : Tr=Triassic, J=Jurassic, K=Cretaceous, T=Tertiary 5. Conclusions The main contributions of this work towards our understanding of the tectonics of Africa are presented here in regional order. Many of the preferred models presented below are tentative and based on very limited released data, particularly of seismic. Further work is required on all of them as more data becomes available. Many of the events described, such as the Santonian inversion event, require a further and dedicated study. 5.1 The Eastern Mediterranean Neotethys propagates into the northern part of the eastern Mediterranean in the Late Triassic, reaching offshore Egypt in the late Early to early Middle Jurassic. Horsts and grabens in the hyperextended Levantine Basin trend NNE-SSW, parallel to eventual Herodotus Basin spreading and perpendicular to an, as yet, poorly documented E-W transform along the sharp Egyptian margin. The predominantly transform margin thus created later accommodated the Azores-Gibraltar transform, which bounds additional slightly younger Tethyan oceans and the incipient Central Atlantic. The Gulf of Sirt margin is a dip-slip salient between these two large transforms that bounds the Ionian Ocean, which is implied to have a NW-SE trending spreading ridge and a slightly younger age of spreading. This model will no doubt be amended as more seismic data is released. 5.2 The Central Atlantic margin Following a major magmatic event at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, the first Central Atlantic oceanic crust is thought to have been emplaced around 190Ma, though north of the Blake Spur only. This ocean then propagates south to Guyana around the Oxfordian, forming a combination of hyperextended and volcanic rifted margins. 5.3 The South Atlantic margin The large scale tectonic model is relatively well understood in existing publications, for we have few major challenges. A south to north oceanic propagational model is supported, as is illustrated in the maps, commencing in the extreme south in the Valanginian, propagating northwards to final breakthrough to the Central Atlantic in latest Albian times .Within the Gabon-northern Namibia salient, rifting propagates northwards southwards towards a meeting point off northern Namibia and also youngs from the continent towards eventual oceanic crust. The data support an latest Aptian-earliest Albian age for breakup for this segment of the South Atlantic, with the exception of an older oceanic segment off the Benguela Basin The Gabon-northern Namibia segment is a classic hyperextended margin with some zones of mantle exhumation and true oceanic crust is interpreted much further oceanward off than previously. 5.4 The Indian Ocean margin The Somali Basin originally opens as an hyperextended margin off Somalia and an oblique margin off Kenya and Tanzania, then switches sharply to a transform with the creation of the Davie Transform, though this is a large order feature only between Mozambique and Madagascar The onshore Mozambique Basin is likely underlain by a very wide zone of seaward dipping reflectors, i.e. is largely a volcanic rifted margin, though this zone is bounded to the north and south by large transforms. 5.5 The Agulhas margin and southern Africa volcanism The Agulhas margin opens as a large transform in the Early Cretaceous, though with some activity initiated in the Late Jurassic, as evidenced by the westwards directed first marine transgressions in the Agulhas Basins and the occurrence of some Late Jurassic ?transform-related passive rifts. Our Late Jurassic fit of the Falklands places the islands south of Cape Province rather than off Natal. The summary map (Figure 22) demonstrates a strong concentration of Mesozoic volcanism on and offshore southern Africa, ranging from Early Jurassic to Late Cretaceous in age. Marine volcanism is seen to almost encircle the South African plateau, suggesting a relationship with the Late Cretaceous uplift of this major feature. 5.6 Rifts Rifts are present on all mapped intervals. Rifts are most significant in the Permian of southern Africa, Late Triassic of north Africa, Early Cretaceous of central Africa and the Neogene of east Africa. The rifts show the full diversity of rift types listed e.g. in Merle (2011), with some rifts that do not seem to fall into any of his categories. The most common rift model is of transform-related passive rifts, a category that can be subdivided into a) narrow pull-apart basins parallel to major transforms and b) dip slip rifts oblique or perpendicular to them. The plate is suggested to have been under a varying degree of tensional stress throughout despite being surrounded by oceanic ridges. A change in stress direction from NE-SW to E-W is apparent in the Paleogene, evidenced by a change in fault orientations in Niger and Sudan, and by the onset of the East African Rift System. Although the Eastern Branch of the EARS are undoubtedly plume-related active rifts, more work is required to understand the genesis of the rest of the EARS rift population. In terms of their origin, the least understood set of rifts remain the Western Desert rifts of Egypt. A hypothesis put forward here is that these are initiated as transform-related passive rifts semiparallelling a transform along the Mediterranean coast. Geometries are suggested to be similar to the relationship of the Eocene to Recent rifts of the Honduran Borderlands with the opening of the Cayman Trough. Further data and analysis is again required. 5.7 Inversion Events A series of Tethyan/alpine-derived ‘shock’ events created inversions in the north of the plate in the Aptian, Maastrichtian, early Oligocene and early-mid Miocene in northern Africa. A more regional scale is observed the Santonian, with inversions extending to west and east Africa. This event is related to a change in the drift direction of Africa and to collisions and obductions on Turkish plates. 5.8 Interior Transforms Relationships between rifts across the continents and the often sharp margins bounding them suggest that there are additional periodically active transforms to be mapped crossing the African Plate. This is also apparent from the extent of Santonian inversion tectonics. Two are suggested here, one extending from Senegal to southern Egypt and the other corresponding to the Late Proterozoic TransAfrican Lineament. 6. Acknowledgements This paper has only two formal authors, but the contributors are many. We acknowledge numerous presenters and discussions at Petroleum (subsequently Geoenergy) Society of Great Britain, Geological Society of London, Houston Geological Society and American Association of Petroleum Geologists conferences, who have illustrated data that has not appeared in any published paper. We particularly acknowledge useful discussions with Ian Davison and David Boote over west and north Africa. As this work had no funding, access to published papers through the Geological Society of London library was critical and we acknowledge the assistance provided here by the library staff. 7. References Abadi, A.M., van Wees, J-D., van Dijk, P.M.and Cloetingh, S. 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