Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania
The Davie Fracture Zone (Davie FZ)—among the longest offshore transform systems in East Africa—mediated Madagascar’s southward displacement following Gondwana’s Early Jurassic breakup. This giant structure has a distinct topography and gravity field signals. However, it is buried by thick sediments...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| author | Xi Peng Yuanyuan Zhou Li Wang Zhaoqian Liu |
| author_facet | Xi Peng Yuanyuan Zhou Li Wang Zhaoqian Liu |
| author_sort | Xi Peng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Davie Fracture Zone (Davie FZ)—among the longest offshore transform systems in East Africa—mediated Madagascar’s southward displacement following Gondwana’s Early Jurassic breakup. This giant structure has a distinct topography and gravity field signals. However, it is buried by thick sediments in its northern segment offshore Tanzania, hindering understanding of the internal structures and their origin. In this study, we applied 2-D multichannel seismic to analyze the structural characteristics and evolution of the Davie FZ. The Davie FZ is located in the oceanic domain, which is bordered by the landwards-dipping overthrust fault at the continent–ocean boundary. Volcano sediments atop the basement with undulating Moho reflection below depict a typical oceanic domain. Distinct compressive deformation characterized by the crustal undulation of around 40 km wavelength forms folded oceanic crust, and Late Jurassic sediments onlap onto the crest of the folded basement. The Davie FZ is localized in a corridor with the thickened oceanic crust and is presented by positive flower structures with faulted uplifted basement and deepened Moho. The Davie FZ evolved from a proto-transform fault located in Gondwana before the spreading of the West Somali Basin. During the Late Jurassic, a kinematic change shifted the spreading direction from NW–SE to N–S, resulting in a strike-slip of the Davie FZ and contemporaneous transpressional deformation offshore Tanzania. The Davie FZ is an excellent case to understand the tectonic-magmatic process forming this transform margin. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-059d1a16491d47429eba3849584a4bfd2025-08-20T03:16:18ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-06-01136117910.3390/jmse13061179Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore TanzaniaXi Peng0Yuanyuan Zhou1Li Wang2Zhaoqian Liu3College of Marine Science and Technology, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, ChinaCollege of Marine Science and Technology, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, ChinaCollege of Marine Science and Technology, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, ChinaKey Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources (China University of Geosciences), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, ChinaThe Davie Fracture Zone (Davie FZ)—among the longest offshore transform systems in East Africa—mediated Madagascar’s southward displacement following Gondwana’s Early Jurassic breakup. This giant structure has a distinct topography and gravity field signals. However, it is buried by thick sediments in its northern segment offshore Tanzania, hindering understanding of the internal structures and their origin. In this study, we applied 2-D multichannel seismic to analyze the structural characteristics and evolution of the Davie FZ. The Davie FZ is located in the oceanic domain, which is bordered by the landwards-dipping overthrust fault at the continent–ocean boundary. Volcano sediments atop the basement with undulating Moho reflection below depict a typical oceanic domain. Distinct compressive deformation characterized by the crustal undulation of around 40 km wavelength forms folded oceanic crust, and Late Jurassic sediments onlap onto the crest of the folded basement. The Davie FZ is localized in a corridor with the thickened oceanic crust and is presented by positive flower structures with faulted uplifted basement and deepened Moho. The Davie FZ evolved from a proto-transform fault located in Gondwana before the spreading of the West Somali Basin. During the Late Jurassic, a kinematic change shifted the spreading direction from NW–SE to N–S, resulting in a strike-slip of the Davie FZ and contemporaneous transpressional deformation offshore Tanzania. The Davie FZ is an excellent case to understand the tectonic-magmatic process forming this transform margin.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/6/1179seismic reflectionWest Somalia BasinDavie Fracture Zoneoceanic crustseafloor spreadingmagma |
| spellingShingle | Xi Peng Yuanyuan Zhou Li Wang Zhaoqian Liu Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania Journal of Marine Science and Engineering seismic reflection West Somalia Basin Davie Fracture Zone oceanic crust seafloor spreading magma |
| title | Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania |
| title_full | Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania |
| title_fullStr | Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania |
| title_full_unstemmed | Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania |
| title_short | Folding of Oceanic Crust Along the Davie Fracture Zone, Offshore Tanzania |
| title_sort | folding of oceanic crust along the davie fracture zone offshore tanzania |
| topic | seismic reflection West Somalia Basin Davie Fracture Zone oceanic crust seafloor spreading magma |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/6/1179 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xipeng foldingofoceaniccrustalongthedaviefracturezoneoffshoretanzania AT yuanyuanzhou foldingofoceaniccrustalongthedaviefracturezoneoffshoretanzania AT liwang foldingofoceaniccrustalongthedaviefracturezoneoffshoretanzania AT zhaoqianliu foldingofoceaniccrustalongthedaviefracturezoneoffshoretanzania |