The Cenozoic East African Rift System (EARS) extends from the Red Sea to Mozambique. Here we
use seismic reflection and bathymetric data to investigate the tectonic evolution of the offshore branch of the
EARS. The data indicate multiple and time transgressive neotectonic deformations along ~800km of the
continental margin of northern Mozambique. We observe a transition from a mature rift basin in the north to
a juvenile fault zone in the south. The respective timing of deformation is derived from detailed seismic
stratigraphy. In the north, a ~30km wide and more than 150km long, N-S striking symmetric graben initiated
as half-graben in the late Miocene. Extension accelerated in the Pliocene, causing a continuous conjugate
border fault and symmetric rift graben. Coevally, the rift started to propagate southward, which resulted in a
present-day ~30km wide half-graben, approximately 200km farther south. Since the Pleistocene, the rift
has continued to propagate another ~300km, where the incipient rift is reflected by subrecent small-scale
normal faulting. Estimates of the overall brittle extension of the matured rift range between 5 and 12km, with
an along-strike southward decrease of the extension rate. The offshore portion of the EARS evolves magma
poor, similar to the onshore western branch. The structural evolution of the offshore EARS is suggested to
be related to and controlled by differing inherited lithospheric fabrics. Preexisting fabrics may not only guide
and focus extension but also control rift architecture.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2015TC003922

The offshore East African Rift System: Structural framework at the toe of a juvenile rift

The thermal history of the Karoo Moatize-Minjova Basin, Tete Province, Mozambique: An integrated vitrinite reflectance and apatite fission track thermochronology study

Delamination-induced late-tectonic deformation and high-grade metamorphism of the Proterozoic Nampula Complex, northern Mozambique

Seismic stratigraphic framework and depositional history for Cretaceous and Cenozoic contourite depositional systems of the Mozambique Channel, SW Indian Ocean

Integrated heavy mineral study of Jurassic to Paleogene sandstones in the Mandawa Basin, Tanzania: Sediment provenance and source-to-sink relations

[1] In this paper, we present a conceptual model to describe the post-Pan-African (<∼500 Ma) basement cooling pattern for NE Mozambique. The cooling history is derived from combined low-temperature thermochronological dating methods comprising titanite, zircon and apatite fission track data. After Pan-African orogenesis (∼620–530 Ma) the Precambrian basement was subject to extensional tectonics and a relatively slow Lower Ordovician to Recent cooling with rates of ∼2.2°C to 0.1°C Myr−1. Basement rock cooling was mainly a response to Late Paleozoic to Mesozoic rifting between northern Mozambique and East Gondwana during the opening of the Rovuma and Mozambique sedimentary basins. Meanwhile, different dynamic margin and basin types evolved along the eastern and southern continental margins of NE Mozambique. During the Late Carboniferous–Triassic an intracontinental rift opened between NE Mozambique and East Antarctica, and the fastest denudation was focused along the present southern continental margin. Since the Middle Jurassic, tectonic denudation along the Rovuma margin was localized in a narrow zone, some 30 km wide, associated with erosion along strike-slip faults. In contrast, the Jurassic-Cretaceous opening and ocean crust formation in the Mozambique Basin were accompanied with an unusually uniform Late Cretaceous cooling pattern over a large area (∼150,000 km2) of the basin hinterland. This pattern can be explained by isostatic and erosional response to magmatic underplating or differential stretching, whereby the old Pan-African lithospheric structure appears to have important controls on later events.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2010TC002714

Thermochronological history of an orogen‐passive margin system: An example from northern Mozambique

The low-temperature thermochronological record of sedimentary rocks from the central Rovuma Basin (N Mozambique) — Constraints on provenance and thermal history

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Thermochronological history of an orogen‐passive margin system: An example from northern Mozambique

The low-temperature thermochronological record of sedimentary rocks from the central Rovuma Basin (N Mozambique) — Constraints on provenance and thermal history