The seismically and volcanically active East African Rift Systemis an ideal laboratory for continental break-up processes: itencompasses all stages of rift development. Its northernmostsectors within the Afar volcanic province include failed rifts,nascent seafloor spreading, and youthful passive continentalmargins associated with one or more mantle plumes. A numberof models have been proposed to explain the success and failureof continental rift zones, but there remains no consensus onhow strain localizes to achieve rupture of 125–250 kmthick plates, or on the interaction between the plates and asthenosphericprocesses. This collection of papers provides new structural,stratigraphic, geochemical and geophysical data and numericalmodels needed to resolve fundamental questions concerning continentalbreak-up and mantle plume processes. It focuses on how mantlemelt intrudes and is distributed through the plate, and howthis magma intrusion process controls along-axis segmentationand facilitates break-up.
