Recent Geological Evolution of the Lake Abhe Basin Using Multitemporal Satellite Images

We used a multitemporal and multisensor satellite dataset to investigate the geological evolution of a tectonic basin of the East African Rift. The study area is the Lake Abhe-Goba'ad basin which is located at the border between Djibouti and Ethiopia. This area is the southern portion of a wide triangle-shaped depression, the Afar Depression. The Afar is one of the Earth's most geologically active regions during PlioQuaternary times. In fact, it is located at the junction of two oceanic rifts (Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, respectively) and a continental one (Main Ethiopian Rift) forming a triple junction [1]. The Afar formation started during the early Oligocene [2]. and it's characterized by the extrusion of an enormous volumes of basalt [3]. Different models have been proposed to explain the present geological setting and the Plio-Quaternary evolution of Afar depression [4,5,2].