The Tambien Group, Northern Ethiopia (Tigre)

Nathan R. Miller*, Dov Avigad, Robert J. Stern, Michael Beyth

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Tambien Group of northern Ethiopia (Tigre), with probable correlatives in Eritrea, is a 2-3-km-thick siliciclastic-carbonate succession that was deposited in an intra-oceanic arc platform setting within the southern Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) area (southern extension of the Nakfa Terrane) of the Mozambique Ocean. Its deposition occurred prior to ocean closure between converging fragments of East and West Gondwana and concomitant structural emergence of the East African Orogen (EAO). The Tambien Group is well exposed and best studied in the Mai Kenetal and Negash synclinoria, where litho- and chemostratigraphy (including δ 13C carb, 87Sr/ 86Sr) provide the basis for a composite reference section. Two glaciogenic intervals have been suggested from exposures within the Didikama and Matheos Formation in the Negash Synclinorium. No reliable palaeomagnetic data exist to constrain the palaeolatitude of Tambien Group deposition and the southern ANS, but palaeogeographic reconstructions and evaporite pseudomorphs in lower carbonate units (Didikama Formation) imply low to intermediate latitudes (<45°). Integration of available geochronological information (regional magmatism and detrital zircon) suggests c. 775-660 Ma as a plausible window constraining deposition of the prospective glacial intervals.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)263-276
Number of pages14
JournalGeological Society Memoir
Volume36
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2011

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