MOZART a seismological investigation of the East African Rift in central Mozambique

Fonseca, J.F.B.D. 1, Chamussa, J.2, Domingues, A.L.1,3, Helffrich, G.4, Antunes, E.1, vanAswegen , G.5,
Pinto, L.V.1, Custdio, S.6 and Manhia, V.J.2

1) Instituto Superior Tcnico, Portugal

2) National Directorate for Geology, Maputo, Mozambique
3) University of East Anglia, UK
4) University of Bristol, UK
5) Council for Geosciences, Pretoria, South Africa
6) Instituto Dom Luiz, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

e-supplement: http://sismologia.ist.utl.pt/MOZART/SRL-D-13-00082-e-supp.html
The electronic supplement contains MOZART network station coordinates and preliminary
hypocentral coordinates

1. Introduction.
From Afar to the Malawi Mozambique border, the East African Rift System (EARS,
Figure 1) is well described on the basis of geological and geophysical evidence (Ebinger et al., 1987;
Ring et al., 1992; Simiyu and Keller, 1997; Chorowicz, 2005; Roberts et al., 2012), seismicity
(Nyblade and Langston, 1995; Kim et al., 2009; Delvaux and Barth, 2010; Yang and Chen, 2008,
2010) and GPS data (Fernandes et al., 2004, 2013; Calais et al., 2006; Stamps et al, 2008; Saria et al.,
2013). However, its extent south of the Malawi rift is unclear. Various trajectories have been proposed:
a split near Lake Tanganyka continuing SW through the Okavango delta in Botswana (Scholz et
al.,1975); offshore through the Mozambique Channel (Mougenot et al.,1986); through the Urema Rift
in Central Mozambique (Ebinger et al, 1987; Hartnady, 1990); distributed between the Okavango rift
and the offshore Davie Ridge (Grimison and Chen, 1988). The M7 Machaze earthquake (Fenton and
Bommer, 2006; Yang and Chen, 2008; Raucoules, 2010; Copley et al, 2012) highlighted the
importance of the Central Mozambique sector of the EARS.
Project MOZART (MOZAmbique Rift Tomography) set out to investigate the seismicity
and the crustal structure of central Mozambique with four main goals:

1) To delineate the active structures of the EARS in this region;

2) to characterize the imprint left in the crust and upper mantle by the tectonic history of the
study area;
3) to identify any crustal and upper mantle signature of continental rifting at an incipient stage,
thus shedding light on the still obscure processes of rift initiation;
4) to understand the role of inherited structures in the development of continental rifting.
This report describes the MOZART seismic network operated in the study area,
characterizes the quality of the data through power spectral analysis of the ambient noise, and presents
seismicity results derived from a preliminary analysis of the dataset. We focus the discussion on the
delineation of the active structures and the factors controlling their location, and discuss also the
implications of the new data for seismic hazard assessment.

2. Tectonic setting.
2.1 Proterozoic inheritance.
The study area has a complex tectonic inheritance (Figure 2). It is flanked on the west by
two blocks of Early Archaean crust the Kaapvaal craton to the SW and the Zimbabwe craton to the
NW which were brought together ~2.6 Ga ago along the Limpopo collision belt (Mason, 1973). In
the NE the structures of the Lurio belt belong to the Mesoproterozoic Kibaran Orogeny (~1.4 Ga), with
a strong imprint of the Pan-African Orogeny, 800-500 Ma ago (Grantham et al., 2003). The Zimbabwe
craton is bounded in the north by the E-W Zambezi belt and in the east by the N-S Mozambique belt,
parts of the Pan-African Orogen (Grantham et al., 2003). These two belts, formed during the assembly
of Gondwana, join in the northernmost sector of our study area.
2.2 . Mesozoic rifting
Karoo basalts, erupted at the early stages of Mesozoic rifting, were drilled at depths of
3100 to 3300 m (Flores, 1973) at different sites on the Mozambique costal plains (MCP, see Figure 2
for locations). According to Frankel (1972) these basalts were probably extruded through parallel sets
of faults east of the Lebombo Monocline. Thick Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary sediment layers overlie
this basaltic basement (Figure 2 shows the extent of the sediment cover). The nature of the crust in the
MCP is debated, hinging on the location of the ocean-continent boundary (OCB). Cox (1970) thought
the western limit of the MCP, the Lebombo monocline, to be a line of complete crustal disruption,

and Watts (2001) expected the MCP to be underlain by thinned continental, oceanic or mixed-type
crust. Watkeys (2002) considered the MCP a pull-apart basin floored by continental crust, formed
during a stage of dextral strike-slip between East and West Gondwana. Figure 3 shows the free-air
gravity anomaly of the region (Sandwell and Smith, 2009; Pavlis et al., 2012). The strong positive
anomaly associated with the Lebombo and Nuanetsi-Sabi monoclines was interpreted by Leinweber
and Jokat (2011) as a possible indicator of the transition between continental and oceanic crust.
2.3 Tertiary deformation
According to Flores (1973), Central Mozambique deformed along two fault systems
since the Cretaceous: the Zambezi Tectonic System (ZTS) and the Inhaminga Tectonic System (ITS).
The former consists mainly of the NW-SE border faults of the Lower Zambezi graben (Figure 4), well
exposed in the NE of the study area; the latter is composed, from north to south, by the N-S Shire
graben and the NNE-SSW Urema graben (Figure 4). Hartnady (2006) proposed an additional
seismically active structure further south, the Mazenga graben. In the north, the structures of the Shire
graben connect with the Malawi rift (Ebinger et al., 1987). The crosscutting relationships divide the
Tertiary deformation into two epochs, the ZTS being older than the ITS. The M7 2006 Machaze
earthquake appears to be associated with the southern sector of the younger set. In the field, the clearest
expression of these tectonic systems is the Inhaminga fault (Figure 4), striking at ~30 and bordering
the Urema rift on the SE, with an estimated throw of 700 m (Flores, 1973).
2.4 Regional seismicity and microplate tectonics
Figure 5 shows the seismicity and published focal mechanisms in the study area and its
vicinity. The seismicity traces a NNE-SSW trend across central Mozambique between latitudes 18 S
and 21 S. There is a cluster of activity at the epicentral area of the 2006 earthquake (black star in
Figure 5; no aftershocks were included for clarity). In view of the regional scarcity of permanent
seismographic stations (Figure 6), large location errors can be expected in general, impeding clear
association of the seismicity with active structures. In particular the M S6.2 earthquake of SW
Mozambique in 1940, included in the compilation of Gutenberg and Richter (1949), should be regarded
with caution because Trepa (1970) reported that the Mozambican press did not contain any echo of
such event.
Stamps et al. (2008) used sparse GPS and earthquake slip data to model the relative
motion between the Nubia and Somalia plates, and proposed the clockwise rotation of the Rovuma

microplate, christened by Hartnady (2002). According to this model, rifting in central Mozambique
between the diverging Nubia plate and Rovuma microplate progresses at rates between 3.8 mm/y in the
north and 1.5 mm/y in the south. More recently, Saria et al.s (2013) new model revised the position of
the pole of rotation, predicting spreading rates of ~4 mm/y in south Tanzania and, possibly,
convergence in south Mozambique. The focal mechanism of the M7 Machaze earthquake of 2006
(Yang and Chen, 2008) is a strong indication that crustal extension is underway in that region (Delvaux
and Barth, 2010).

3. The MOZART Project

Political instability in Mozambique prevented adequate seismic monitoring until
recently. In 2011, project MOZART deployed 30 temporary broadband seismographic stations in
central and southern Mozambique and across the South-African border (Figure 6). Typical inter-station
distances are ~100 km. The equipment was provided by the SEIS-UK Equipment Pool, and consists of
CMG-3T (120s) seismometers and Nanometrics Taurus or Guralp CMG-DCM dataloggers. The
deployment started in March 2011 and ended in August 2013.
Figure 7 depicts the probabilistic power spectral density of the ambient noise
(McNamara and Buland, 2004) recorded at MOZART stations. Noise levels are low, well below the
high noise model of Peterson (1993). Sites showing lower noise levels in the NW (squares) and in the
SW (triangles) are on the Zimbabwe and Kaapvaal cratons, respectively. The highest noise sites
(circles) are on the sedimentary cover of the MCP (Figure 2).

4. Analysis of the local seismicity

Seismicity detected by the network averages one or two small earthquakes daily. We
estimated preliminary locations with a velocity model derived from James et al. (2003), using the
program HYPOCENTER (Lienert and Havskov, 1995) as distributed in the software package SEISAN
9.1 (Ottemoller et al., 2011). Once the full dataset is recovered, we anticipate better locations with an
improved local velocity model.
Figure 8A shows the epicenters of 307 earthquakes with M L magnitudes ranging from
0.9 to 3.9, recorded between April 2011 and July 2012. We adopted the South African M L magnitude
calibration of Saunders et al. (2013), adjusting the coefficients to minimize the residuals in order to

account for attenuation differences. We retained all the events with horizontal errors below 10 km. This
large allowance reflects the unsuitability of a single uniform preliminary velocity model, clearly
inadequate for this tectonic setting. Figures 8B and 8C show a map view of a subset of events with
depth uncertainty lower than 5 km, and the projection of the hypocenters on a vertical section along the
strike of the Inhaminga Fault. A selection of four earthquakes with M L>2.4 in the Urema graben yields
a joint focal mechanism solution that indicates pure normal faulting on a plane striking N31E (Figure
8A), in good agreement with the location and orientation of the Inhaminga Fault.

5. Discussion
The NE sector of the observed seismicity pattern correlates well with the topography,
tracing the Urema rift valley (Figure 8A). The linearity of the seismicity distribution supports its
association with the Inhaminga fault. The linear NNE-SSW seismicity pattern extends for ~300 km,
reaching the epicentral area of the Machaze earthquake, and suggests that the Inhaminga Fault
continues to the SE across the Lower Zambezi graben.
Focal depths range from the surface to 30 km (Figure 8C) indicating a brittle lower crust,
possibly due to Karroo mafic intrusions (Manninen, 2008). Yang and Chen (2010) located a Machaze
earthquake aftershock at 274 km depth and reported that similar lower crustal depths are common for
earthquakes in amagmatic sectors of the EARS. The concentration of shallow seismicity near the center
of the section may result from the intersection of the Inhaminga and Zambezi tectonic systems, leading
to a locally weaker upper crust. A cluster of seismicity in the northeastern end, ranging in depth from
10 to 30 km, corresponds to the location where the Inhaminga fault connects with the NW-SE Zambezi
fault (Chorowicz, 2005).
The joint focal mechanism obtained in the Urema graben (Figure 8A) is consistent with
WNW-ESE extension, at right angles to the strike of the Inhaminga fault. This deviates significantly
from the ENE-WSW normal rupture revealed by the focal mechanism of the M7 Machaze earthquake
and its aftershocks (Yang and Chen, 2008, 2010; Delvaux and Barth, 2010), 300 km further south. The
latter strike is in better agreement with the orientation of the Mazenga graben (Figure 4), proposed as
an active structure by Hartnady (2006). Such change in orientation of the active structures is also
noticeable in the seismotectonic map of Trepa (1970a), which was based on the seismicity for the
period 1905-1967. By changing from the trend of the Urema graben sub-parallel to the Nuanetsi-Sabi

monocline to the trend of the Mazenga graben sub-parallel to the Lebombo monocline - the
southward propagating rift could avoid the stronger crust of the Kaapvaal craton. In the north of the
study area, the eastward shift from the Malawi rift to the Shire and Urema grabens through the
Zambezi fault may also reflect the avoidance of the protrusion of the Zimbabwe craton into
Mozambique (Figure 2).
Gwavava et al. (1996) estimated from gravity data an effective elastic thickness of 56 km
for the Kaapvaal craton, and from 21 km to 39 km for the Mesozoic basin east of the Lebombo
monocline. Petit and Ebinger (2000) pointed out that rifting tends to follow cratonic margins, where
strong rheological contrasts concentrate stress. The 300 km-long NNE-SSW active segment presented
in this paper runs along the border of the Zimbabwe craton, in agreement with that observation. Why it
should be truncated near the Machaze epicentral area is not clear, since the transition to the Kaapvaal
craton is still 250 km away. The 1940 MS6.2 earthquake, with epicenter ~200 km SSW of the Machaze
epicentral area (Figure 3), may indicate that incipient rifting continues with the same strike until it
reaches the Lebombo monocline, with only a lateral offset in the Machaze epicentral area (however, as
mentioned above, we prefer to take this epicenter with caution). If a change in extension direction is
confirmed, it may indicate that a complex second-order stress pattern exists in this region as a result of
the juxtaposition of cratonic and extended crust at the Lebombo and Nuanetsi-Sabi monoclines and the
sharp difference in the orientation of the latter structures. A satisfactory seismotectonic framework for
the Machaze earthquake should also explain its dip of 76 4 , very unusual for normal faulting (Yang
and Chen, 2008).
The scale of the ~300 km long active fault segment now proposed, to be confirmed once
the complete MOZART dataset is gathered, compares well with the seismotectonic map of
Mozambique proposed by Hartnady (2006), and exceeds the dominant lengths of the tectonic map of
Flores (1973), where the structures of the ITS are truncated by those of the ZTS. This observation is
relevant for hazard assessment, since a straight active fault segment of ~300 km indicates that
magnitudes higher than 7 (currently the historical maximum) may occur in the region, albeit with long
return periods in view of the low strain rates predicted by plate tectonic models. Hartnady (2006)
compared seismic moment release with the predicted strain rate, and concluded that M8 earthquakes
should be expected with a return period of ~2300 years. However, the predicted strain rates are strongly
dependent on the uncertain location of the Rovuma Nubia pole of rotation and on the assumed

breadth of the deforming zones. Paleoseismological investigations are therefore required to assess
maximum magnitudes and return periods before significant advances can be made regarding seismic
hazard assessment.
Near the NNE end of the seismicity trend, where the Inhaminga fault and the Zambezi
fault connect, a swarm was registered in July 2011 (25 earthquakes with 0.9<M L<3.8 in 12 days).
Trepa (1970b) reported also a concentration of seismicity at the same location. Like the Machaze
epicentral area, this is another point of inflection of the orientation of the active structures, which can
also be regarded as a candidate for stress accumulation and possibly higher seismic hazard.
All the hypocentral locations presented in this preliminary report are conditional on the
crustal velocity model. It presently pertains to the Kaapvaal craton (James et al., 2003) and is
inappropriate to the MCP. However, the key observation of a linear trend of seismicity connecting the
Zambezi fault in the north to the Machaze epicentral area in the south is unlikely to be affected in a
significant way. Maximum earthquake depths may change with incorporation of the likely lower MCP
velocities into the model.

6. Conclusions
Preliminary epicentral locations of microearthquakes in Central Mozambique delineate a
straight NNE-SSW linear pattern extending ~300 km, to connect the Zambezi fault in the north to the
epicentral region of the M7 Machaze earthquake of February 2006. Preliminary earthquake depths
extend to ~30 km, revealing the presence of an active fault potentially of crustal scale. The fault
probably corresponds to the Inhaminga fault of Flores (1973), which appears to continue towards the
SSE after the Urema graben cuts the older Lower Zambezi graben. A joint first-motion focal
mechanism for four earthquakes in the Urema rift shows normal faulting with strike N31E, in good
agreement with the Inhaminga faults orientation. These new results clarify the southward continuation
of the EARS, and contribute to a preliminary fault source model for seismic hazard assessment in
Central Mozambique. It is expected that the full MOZART dataset will allow a better identification of
the factors controlling the southward propagation of the rift, the delineation of the second-order stress
field in Central Mozambique, and the test of alternative models to explain those results.

7. Data and Resources

Under the loan conditions for the equipment (Brisbourne, 2012), the full MOZART
dataset will be freely available through the IRIS DMC and the ORFEUS Data Centre after an embargo
period. Station coordinates and preliminary hypocentral locations are available as an e-supplement at
http://sismologia.ist.utl.pt/MOZART/SRL-D-13-00082-esupp.html.

8. Acknowledgements
Project MOZART was funded by the Portuguese research foundation FCT, Lisbon, under
contract PTDC/CTE-GIX/103249/2008. The equipment was loaned from NERCs SEIS-UK
Equipment Pool, UK. The authors acknowledge great logistic support from Alex Brisbourne, Victoria
Lane and David Hawthorn (SEIS-UK). Logistic support from the Council of Geosciences (Michelle
Grobbelaar) for the South African sites is also appreciated. The following staff of the Provincial
Geology Directorates were key to the success of the deployment: Ussene Elias (Sofala), Antnio Riama
and Clio Anil (Manica), Carlos Cumbane and ngelo Mutolo (Inhambane), Bernardo Cossa and
Francisco Palalane (Gaza). Thanks are due to Hlder Ferreira, Joo Narciso and Patrcia Pinheiro, from
IST, for their contributions to the MOZART project. Cynthia Ebinger and an anonymous reviewer
helped us improve the manuscript. The following software was used to produce this report: SEISAN
(Ottemoller et al., 2011), ObsPy (Beyreuther et al, 2010), GMT (Wessel and Smith, 1998), SAC
(Goldstein et al, 2003).

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Figure Captions
Fig. 1 Project MOZART study area (white rectangle) in relation to the main surface features of the
East African Rift System (dark grey). After Chorowicz (2005) and Kinabo et al. (2007).

Fig. 2 Tectonic provinces of the study area. The dottted line is the limit of the sediment cover. See
text for details.

Fig. 3 Fee-air gravity anomaly of the study area (Sandwell and Smith 2009; Pavlis et al. 2012). The
map shows the strong signature of the transition from the Kaapvaal craton (SW) and Zimbabwe craton
(NW) to the Mozambique coastal plains (SE).

Fig. 4 Tertiary tectonic structures of central Mozambique, after Flores (1973) and Hartnady (2006).

Fig 5 A) Seismicity of Mozambique and surrounding regions, 1912-2006. Machaze 2006 earthquake
(star) included; aftershocks excluded for clarity. Source: International Seismological Centre. B) Zoom
in of the study region highlighting the higher magnitude historical earthquakes and available focal
mechanisms (Global CMT catalog, Ekstrm et al., 2012).

Fig. 6 Location of the MOZART stations (white triangles), and other deployments in the region.
Crossed circles are permanent broadband stations, open circles are AfricaArray stations (Nyblade et al,
2011), and black dots show previous temporary networks. The white squares show the ongoing
SAFARI temporary deployment (Gao et al., 2013).

Fig. 7 A) Nearest-neighbor plot of probabilistic power spectral density (PPSD) of the background
noise recorded at the MOZART stations (vertical component) averaged over the period range 4s 6s
(double-frequency microseisms). B) median PPSD (vertical component). Squares: stations located on
the Zimbabwe craton; triangles: stations located on the Kaapvaal craton; circles: stations located on the
MCP. The grey lines are the new high noise model (NHNM) and the new low noise model (NLNM) of
Peterson (2003).

Fig. 8 Preliminary locations of the earthquakes recorded during the first half of the MOZART
deployment (April 2011 to July 2012). A) Map view of all the epicenters with horizontal uncertainty
below 10 km (307 events). A joint focal mechanism solution is shown for four earthquakes with
ML>2.4 located in the Urema graben, inside the outlined rectangle (P-wave first motions, 21 polarities,
three violations). B) Map view of all earthquakes (error ellipses) with depth uncertainty below 5 km
(111 events). C) Cross-section with error ellipses for the events shown in B).