UTIG RESEARCH PROJECTS ARCHIVE

Principal Investigator: Richard T. Buffler, UTIG

Funded by: National Science Foundation
                 Anadarko Petroleum

ERITREA, the newest African country, established in 1992 after a 30-year struggle for independence, is located in NE Africa (the Horn of Africa region) just north of Ethiopia along the southern Red Sea. Here, the intersection of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the East Africa rift systems occurs in the Afar region of Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Afar is one of the key regions in the world for understanding basic geological processes involving the rifting of continents and the formation of new oceanic crust.(Fig. 1) Discoveries of hominid remains suggest that the Afar was the setting of a potentially important hominid migration route.

In 1999 RICHARD BUFFLER embarked on a major NSF-sponsored field investigation of the southern Red Sea-northern Danakil regions of Eritrea. The purpose of this project is twofold: (1) to establish a geological framework for further paleontological and archaeology studies, including early hominid evolution; and (2) to initiate a long-term systematic geological survey of the late Cenozoic (the past 10-15 million years) sedimentary basins of Eritrea located in the northern Danakil Depression and along the Red Sea coast.(Fig. 2) The study will be the first systematic survey designed to document the geological, paleontological and archaeological content of these basins. The focus is on better understanding rift sedimentation, volcanism, and tectonism in an active plate boundary setting. The long-term goal is to document the nature, timing, duration and rates of change of the geological processes that controlled late Cenozoic sedimentation, rifting and faunal evolution in this portion of east Africa.

A PRELIMINARY FIELD PROGRAM, carried out in January-February, 1997, began a detailed geological survey of the Danakil Depression and Gulf of Zula area using satellite and aerial remote sensing techniques in combination with comprehensive field studies. It identified key areas that were designed for future study. This initial work was partially funded by a generous gift from Anadarko Petroleum ($20,000). A second field season (January - February, 1999) concentrated in three main areas and yielded (1) geologic maps of the areas, (2) a stratigraphic framework for interpreting depositional settings and environments, (3) samples for determining radiometric ages that provide temporal controls for tectonic, sedimentary, volcanic and climatic events, (4) locations of potential terrestrial vertebrate fossil sites, and (5) locations of extensive archeological tool sites. The first results of this work, published in the May 4^th, 2000 issue of Nature, involve the discovery of Acheulian-type (Stone Age) stone tools on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea in raised reef terraces, which are correlated with the last interglacial highstand. This discovery is exciting because it provides the earliest evidence (125,000 years BP) of early humans utilizing marine resources and their adaptation to the coastal environment. The evidence from the Red Sea coast of Eritrea predates the occurrences of coastal human habitation at the Klasies River Mouth in South Africa by 10,000 years. The date is significant for modeling adaptations of late Pleistocene hominids and for reconstructing routes for hominid dispersal from Africa.

RELEVANCE. Much of the Afar, particularly the northern part centered on Eritrea, has received very little geological and archaeological study during the past three decades mainly because of civil unrest. Thus, this work will help establish a new geologic framework for geologic processes occurring in an active plate boundary setting. With the end of armed conflict in 1992, Eritrea has emerged as a new nation, with a keen interest in developing scientific collaborations with American and European scientists. This project provides a rare opportunity for The University of Texas to establish a link with this new African country and to get involved in a world-class project with an outstanding long-term potential for future involvement with other university disciplines. Recent discoveries of hominid remains by an Italian team in the study area have excited the archaeological and anthropological communities. The study is also relevant to the oil and natural gas industry. Anadarko Petroleum, for example, has a large exploration concession offshore of the study area.

EDUCATION & TRAINING.This project will provide important opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in the way of stipend support and participation in a unique, multi-disciplinary field program. Moreover, an important link has been established between The University of Texas and Eritrean centers of higher education and geologic research. Berhane Negassi Ghebretensae, a geologist who participated in the 1999 field study, is now enrolled as a Master's graduate student in the Department of Geological Sciences.

COLLABORATION. The Eritrea project is an international effort involving Robert C. Walter, who is with Mexico's Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y Educacion Superior de Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico, Richard Buffler of The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and Department of Geological Sciences, the Eritrean Department of Mines, The University of Asmara, and other scientists from the US, Mexico, Canada, France and the Netherlands. Robert Walter is the project leader. For more information about the Eritrea project, contact Richard Buffler (dick@utig.ig.utexas.edu).