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Geochemical evolution of the Okenyenya sub-volcanic ring complex, northwestern Namibia
- Anton P. Le Roex, Ronald T. Watkins, Arch M. Reid
-
- Journal:
- Geological Magazine / Volume 133 / Issue 6 / November 1996
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 07 April 2017, pp. 645-670
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The Okenyenya gabbro-syenite complex, one of a number of intrusive igneous complexes of late-Mesozoic age in northwestern Namibia, was emplaced at the time of opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. The 5-km-diameter complex comprises a wide variety of rock types that can be subdivided into two contrasting magmatic suites, one tholeiitic and the other alkaline, which were emplaced in close proximity over a time-span of ˜5 Ma. The tholeiitic suite of rocks includes picritic gabbro, olivine gabbro through quartz monzodiorite and syenite, whereas the alkaline suite includes alkaline gabbro, essexite, nepheline syenite and a range of lamprophyric rock types. Detailed petrographic, mineralogical and bulk rock geochemical data show that the earliest, saucer-shaped, intrusion of olivine gabbro-quartz monzodiorite rocks can be subdivided into an Inner Zone and an Outer Zone (each comprising three distinct intrusive units). The individual units can be readily distinguished on the basis of bulk rock geochemical variations, together with cryptic and modal mineralogical variations. An unusual feature of the intrusive body is that bulk rock and mineral compositions become more evolved with apparent depth, within the body as a whole and within each unit. Compositional variation within the individual intrusive units requires a complex interplay between in situ crystallization, variable expulsion of interstitial melt, magma recharge, and re-equilibration of primocrysts with trapped interstitial melt. Cross-cutting dykes of picritic gabbro (MgO= 13–21 %) have compositions consistent with olivine control. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb= 12.5 ± 1.3) suggest that the picritic gabbro magmas were derived from a distinct source region compared to that giving rise to the tholeiitic olivine gabbros (Zr/Nb = 6.8 ± 1.1).
Alkaline gabbro occupies the central region of the complex and, on the basis of major, trace and rare earth element variations, can be subdivided into four distinct intrusive bodies, interpreted as remnant magma chambers, each having experienced variable degrees of crystal accumulation. In places, magma chamber processes have given rise to centimetre-scale rhythmic layering. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb = 4.4 ± 1.2) serve to distinguish the source region of the alkaline gabbro magmas from those giving rise to the tholeiitic suite of magmas. Younger rocks of both the tholeiitic and alkaline suites show strong evidence of the effects of extensive crystal fractionation. The quartz syenite is characterized by a strong negative Eu anomaly indicative of substantial feldspar fractionation and also shows evidence for direct contamination by earlier gabbro, whereas the syenite shows evidence for feldspar accumulation. Both syenites have geochemical characteristics suggesting consanguinity with the Outer Zone rocks of the olivine gabbro-quartz monzodiorite intrusion. In contrast, the essexite and nepheline syenite compositions are qualitatively consistent with derivation from one of the alkaline gabbro magmas by extensive fractionation of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, olivine and amphibole. The final stage of magmatism is represented by a suite of alkaline and ultramafic lamprophyres emplaced as dykes and diatremes, the latter carrying a variety of megacrystic and xenolithic material, including mantle nodules. The alternation between tholeiitic and alkaline magmatism evident within the Okenyenya complex is similar to that characteristic of the evolution of many ocean island volcanoes.
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- By Mitchell Aboulafia, Frederick Adams, Marilyn McCord Adams, Robert M. Adams, Laird Addis, James W. Allard, David Allison, William P. Alston, Karl Ameriks, C. Anthony Anderson, David Leech Anderson, Lanier Anderson, Roger Ariew, David Armstrong, Denis G. Arnold, E. J. Ashworth, Margaret Atherton, Robin Attfield, Bruce Aune, Edward Wilson Averill, Jody Azzouni, Kent Bach, Andrew Bailey, Lynne Rudder Baker, Thomas R. Baldwin, Jon Barwise, George Bealer, William Bechtel, Lawrence C. Becker, Mark A. Bedau, Ernst Behler, José A. Benardete, Ermanno Bencivenga, Jan Berg, Michael Bergmann, Robert L. Bernasconi, Sven Bernecker, Bernard Berofsky, Rod Bertolet, Charles J. Beyer, Christian Beyer, Joseph Bien, Joseph Bien, Peg Birmingham, Ivan Boh, James Bohman, Daniel Bonevac, Laurence BonJour, William J. Bouwsma, Raymond D. Bradley, Myles Brand, Richard B. Brandt, Michael E. Bratman, Stephen E. Braude, Daniel Breazeale, Angela Breitenbach, Jason Bridges, David O. Brink, Gordon G. Brittan, Justin Broackes, Dan W. Brock, Aaron Bronfman, Jeffrey E. Brower, Bartosz Brozek, Anthony Brueckner, Jeffrey Bub, Lara Buchak, Otavio Bueno, Ann E. Bumpus, Robert W. Burch, John Burgess, Arthur W. Burks, Panayot Butchvarov, Robert E. Butts, Marina Bykova, Patrick Byrne, David Carr, Noël Carroll, Edward S. Casey, Victor Caston, Victor Caston, Albert Casullo, Robert L. Causey, Alan K. L. Chan, Ruth Chang, Deen K. Chatterjee, Andrew Chignell, Roderick M. Chisholm, Kelly J. Clark, E. J. Coffman, Robin Collins, Brian P. Copenhaver, John Corcoran, John Cottingham, Roger Crisp, Frederick J. Crosson, Antonio S. Cua, Phillip D. Cummins, Martin Curd, Adam Cureton, Andrew Cutrofello, Stephen Darwall, Paul Sheldon Davies, Wayne A. Davis, Timothy Joseph Day, Claudio de Almeida, Mario De Caro, Mario De Caro, John Deigh, C. F. Delaney, Daniel C. Dennett, Michael R. DePaul, Michael Detlefsen, Daniel Trent Devereux, Philip E. Devine, John M. Dillon, Martin C. Dillon, Robert DiSalle, Mary Domski, Alan Donagan, Paul Draper, Fred Dretske, Mircea Dumitru, Wilhelm Dupré, Gerald Dworkin, John Earman, Ellery Eells, Catherine Z. Elgin, Berent Enç, Ronald P. Endicott, Edward Erwin, John Etchemendy, C. Stephen Evans, Susan L. Feagin, Solomon Feferman, Richard Feldman, Arthur Fine, Maurice A. Finocchiaro, William FitzPatrick, Richard E. Flathman, Gvozden Flego, Richard Foley, Graeme Forbes, Rainer Forst, Malcolm R. Forster, Daniel Fouke, Patrick Francken, Samuel Freeman, Elizabeth Fricker, Miranda Fricker, Michael Friedman, Michael Fuerstein, Richard A. Fumerton, Alan Gabbey, Pieranna Garavaso, Daniel Garber, Jorge L. A. Garcia, Robert K. Garcia, Don Garrett, Philip Gasper, Gerald Gaus, Berys Gaut, Bernard Gert, Roger F. Gibson, Cody Gilmore, Carl Ginet, Alan H. Goldman, Alvin I. Goldman, Alfonso Gömez-Lobo, Lenn E. Goodman, Robert M. Gordon, Stefan Gosepath, Jorge J. E. Gracia, Daniel W. Graham, George A. Graham, Peter J. Graham, Richard E. Grandy, I. Grattan-Guinness, John Greco, Philip T. Grier, Nicholas Griffin, Nicholas Griffin, David A. Griffiths, Paul J. Griffiths, Stephen R. Grimm, Charles L. Griswold, Charles B. Guignon, Pete A. Y. Gunter, Dimitri Gutas, Gary Gutting, Paul Guyer, Kwame Gyekye, Oscar A. Haac, Raul Hakli, Raul Hakli, Michael Hallett, Edward C. Halper, Jean Hampton, R. James Hankinson, K. R. Hanley, Russell Hardin, Robert M. Harnish, William Harper, David Harrah, Kevin Hart, Ali Hasan, William Hasker, John Haugeland, Roger Hausheer, William Heald, Peter Heath, Richard Heck, John F. Heil, Vincent F. Hendricks, Stephen Hetherington, Francis Heylighen, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Risto Hilpinen, Harold T. Hodes, Joshua Hoffman, Alan Holland, Robert L. Holmes, Richard Holton, Brad W. Hooker, Terence E. Horgan, Tamara Horowitz, Paul Horwich, Vittorio Hösle, Paul Hoβfeld, Daniel Howard-Snyder, Frances Howard-Snyder, Anne Hudson, Deal W. Hudson, Carl A. Huffman, David L. Hull, Patricia Huntington, Thomas Hurka, Paul Hurley, Rosalind Hursthouse, Guillermo Hurtado, Ronald E. Hustwit, Sarah Hutton, Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa, Harry A. Ide, David Ingram, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Alfred L. Ivry, Frank Jackson, Dale Jacquette, Joseph Jedwab, Richard Jeffrey, David Alan Johnson, Edward Johnson, Mark D. Jordan, Richard Joyce, Hwa Yol Jung, Robert Hillary Kane, Tomis Kapitan, Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley, James A. Keller, Ralph Kennedy, Sergei Khoruzhii, Jaegwon Kim, Yersu Kim, Nathan L. King, Patricia Kitcher, Peter D. Klein, E. D. Klemke, Virginia Klenk, George L. Kline, Christian Klotz, Simo Knuuttila, Joseph J. Kockelmans, Konstantin Kolenda, Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk, Isaac Kramnick, Richard Kraut, Fred Kroon, Manfred Kuehn, Steven T. Kuhn, Henry E. Kyburg, John Lachs, Jennifer Lackey, Stephen E. Lahey, Andrea Lavazza, Thomas H. Leahey, Joo Heung Lee, Keith Lehrer, Dorothy Leland, Noah M. Lemos, Ernest LePore, Sarah-Jane Leslie, Isaac Levi, Andrew Levine, Alan E. Lewis, Daniel E. Little, Shu-hsien Liu, Shu-hsien Liu, Alan K. L. Chan, Brian Loar, Lawrence B. Lombard, John Longeway, Dominic McIver Lopes, Michael J. Loux, E. J. Lowe, Steven Luper, Eugene C. Luschei, William G. Lycan, David Lyons, David Macarthur, Danielle Macbeth, Scott MacDonald, Jacob L. Mackey, Louis H. Mackey, Penelope Mackie, Edward H. Madden, Penelope Maddy, G. B. Madison, Bernd Magnus, Pekka Mäkelä, Rudolf A. Makkreel, David Manley, William E. Mann (W.E.M.), Vladimir Marchenkov, Peter Markie, Jean-Pierre Marquis, Ausonio Marras, Mike W. Martin, A. P. Martinich, William L. McBride, David McCabe, Storrs McCall, Hugh J. McCann, Robert N. McCauley, John J. McDermott, Sarah McGrath, Ralph McInerny, Daniel J. McKaughan, Thomas McKay, Michael McKinsey, Brian P. McLaughlin, Ernan McMullin, Anthonie Meijers, Jack W. Meiland, William Jason Melanson, Alfred R. Mele, Joseph R. Mendola, Christopher Menzel, Michael J. Meyer, Christian B. Miller, David W. Miller, Peter Millican, Robert N. Minor, Phillip Mitsis, James A. Montmarquet, Michael S. Moore, Tim Moore, Benjamin Morison, Donald R. Morrison, Stephen J. Morse, Paul K. Moser, Alexander P. D. Mourelatos, Ian Mueller, James Bernard Murphy, Mark C. Murphy, Steven Nadler, Jan Narveson, Alan Nelson, Jerome Neu, Samuel Newlands, Kai Nielsen, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Carlos G. Noreña, Calvin G. Normore, David Fate Norton, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Donald Nute, David S. Oderberg, Steve Odin, Michael O’Rourke, Willard G. Oxtoby, Heinz Paetzold, George S. Pappas, Anthony J. Parel, Lydia Patton, R. P. Peerenboom, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Adriaan T. Peperzak, Derk Pereboom, Jaroslav Peregrin, Glen Pettigrove, Philip Pettit, Edmund L. Pincoffs, Andrew Pinsent, Robert B. Pippin, Alvin Plantinga, Louis P. Pojman, Richard H. Popkin, John F. Post, Carl J. Posy, William J. Prior, Richard Purtill, Michael Quante, Philip L. Quinn, Philip L. Quinn, Elizabeth S. Radcliffe, Diana Raffman, Gerard Raulet, Stephen L. Read, Andrews Reath, Andrew Reisner, Nicholas Rescher, Henry S. Richardson, Robert C. Richardson, Thomas Ricketts, Wayne D. Riggs, Mark Roberts, Robert C. Roberts, Luke Robinson, Alexander Rosenberg, Gary Rosenkranz, Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Adina L. Roskies, William L. Rowe, T. M. Rudavsky, Michael Ruse, Bruce Russell, Lilly-Marlene Russow, Dan Ryder, R. M. Sainsbury, Joseph Salerno, Nathan Salmon, Wesley C. Salmon, Constantine Sandis, David H. Sanford, Marco Santambrogio, David Sapire, Ruth A. Saunders, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Charles Sayward, James P. Scanlan, Richard Schacht, Tamar Schapiro, Frederick F. Schmitt, Jerome B. Schneewind, Calvin O. Schrag, Alan D. Schrift, George F. Schumm, Jean-Loup Seban, David N. Sedley, Kenneth Seeskin, Krister Segerberg, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Dennis M. Senchuk, James F. Sennett, William Lad Sessions, Stewart Shapiro, Tommie Shelby, Donald W. Sherburne, Christopher Shields, Roger A. Shiner, Sydney Shoemaker, Robert K. Shope, Kwong-loi Shun, Wilfried Sieg, A. John Simmons, Robert L. Simon, Marcus G. Singer, Georgette Sinkler, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Matti T. Sintonen, Lawrence Sklar, Brian Skyrms, Robert C. Sleigh, Michael Anthony Slote, Hans Sluga, Barry Smith, Michael Smith, Robin Smith, Robert Sokolowski, Robert C. Solomon, Marta Soniewicka, Philip Soper, Ernest Sosa, Nicholas Southwood, Paul Vincent Spade, T. L. S. Sprigge, Eric O. Springsted, George J. Stack, Rebecca Stangl, Jason Stanley, Florian Steinberger, Sören Stenlund, Christopher Stephens, James P. Sterba, Josef Stern, Matthias Steup, M. A. Stewart, Leopold Stubenberg, Edith Dudley Sulla, Frederick Suppe, Jere Paul Surber, David George Sussman, Sigrún Svavarsdóttir, Zeno G. Swijtink, Richard Swinburne, Charles C. Taliaferro, Robert B. Talisse, John Tasioulas, Paul Teller, Larry S. Temkin, Mark Textor, H. S. Thayer, Peter Thielke, Alan Thomas, Amie L. Thomasson, Katherine Thomson-Jones, Joshua C. Thurow, Vzalerie Tiberius, Terrence N. Tice, Paul Tidman, Mark C. Timmons, William Tolhurst, James E. Tomberlin, Rosemarie Tong, Lawrence Torcello, Kelly Trogdon, J. D. Trout, Robert E. Tully, Raimo Tuomela, John Turri, Martin M. Tweedale, Thomas Uebel, Jennifer Uleman, James Van Cleve, Harry van der Linden, Peter van Inwagen, Bryan W. Van Norden, René van Woudenberg, Donald Phillip Verene, Samantha Vice, Thomas Vinci, Donald Wayne Viney, Barbara Von Eckardt, Peter B. M. Vranas, Steven J. Wagner, William J. Wainwright, Paul E. Walker, Robert E. Wall, Craig Walton, Douglas Walton, Eric Watkins, Richard A. Watson, Michael V. Wedin, Rudolph H. Weingartner, Paul Weirich, Paul J. Weithman, Carl Wellman, Howard Wettstein, Samuel C. Wheeler, Stephen A. White, Jennifer Whiting, Edward R. Wierenga, Michael Williams, Fred Wilson, W. Kent Wilson, Kenneth P. Winkler, John F. Wippel, Jan Woleński, Allan B. Wolter, Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Rega Wood, W. Jay Wood, Paul Woodruff, Alison Wylie, Gideon Yaffe, Takashi Yagisawa, Yutaka Yamamoto, Keith E. Yandell, Xiaomei Yang, Dean Zimmerman, Günter Zoller, Catherine Zuckert, Michael Zuckert, Jack A. Zupko (J.A.Z.)
- Edited by Robert Audi, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
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- The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
- Published online:
- 05 August 2015
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- 27 April 2015, pp ix-xxx
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Rb-Sr age determinations of rocks from the Okenyenya igneous complex, northwestern Namibia
- Simon C. Milner, Anton P. Le Roex, Ronald T. Watkins
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- Journal:
- Geological Magazine / Volume 130 / Issue 3 / May 1993
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 May 2009, pp. 335-343
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The Okenyenya igneous complex is one of a suite of intrusions which define a prominent northeast-trending linear feature in Damaraland, northwestern Namibia. Precise Rb–Sr internal isochron ages range from 128.6 ± 1 to 123.4 ± 1.4 Ma for the major phases of intrusion identified within the complex. The tholeiitic gabbros forming the outer rings of the complex, and the later alkali gabbros which form the central hills, cannot be distinguished in terms of Rb–Sr ages, although field relations clearly indicate the younger age of the latter. The intrusionsof nepheline-syenite and essexite comprising the mountain of Okenyenya Bergon the northern edge of the complex give ages of 123.4 ± 1.4 and 126.3 ± 1 Ma, respectively, and form the final major phase of intrusion. The ages obtained for early and late intrusive phases define a minimum magmatic ‘life-span’ of approximately 5 Ma for the complex. The determined age of the Okenyenya igneous complex (129–123 Ma), when taken together with the few reliable published ages for other Damaraland complexes (130–134 Ma), suggests that these sub-volcanic complexes were emplaced contemporaneously with the widespread Etendeka volcanics (˜ 130 Ma), and relate to magmatism associated with the breakup of southern Africa and South America with the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. The linear distributionof intrusions in Damaraland is interpreted to be due to magmatism resultingfrom the upwelling Tristan plume being focused along a structural discontinuity between the Pan-African, Damaran terrain to the south, and Proterozoiccratonic basement to the north.
Geochemical evolution of the Okenyenya sub-volcanic ring complex, northwestern Namibia
- Anton P. Le Roex, Ronald T. Watkins, Arch M. Reid
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- Journal:
- Geological Magazine / Volume 133 / Issue 6 / November 1996
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 May 2009, pp. 645-670
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- Article
- Export citation
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The Okenyenya gabbro–syenite complex, one of a number of intrusive igneous complexes of late-Mesozoic age in northwestern Namibia, was emplaced at the time of opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. The 5-km-diameter complex comprises a wide variety of rock types that can be subdivided into two contrasting magmatic suites, one tholeiitic and the other alkaline, which were emplaced in close proximity over a time-span of ~5 Ma. The tholeiitic suite of rocks includes picritic gabbro, olivine gabbro through quartz monzodiorite and syenite, whereas the alkaline suite includes alkaline gabbro, essexite, nepheline syenite and a range of lamprophyric rock types. Detailed petrographic, mineralogical and bulk rock geochemical data show that the earliest, saucer-shaped, intrusion of olivine gabbro–quartz monzodiorite rocks can be subdivided into an Inner Zone and an Outer Zone (each comprising three distinct intrusive units). The individual units can be readily distinguished on the basis of bulk rock geochemical variations, together with cryptic and modal mineralogical variations. An unusual feature of the intrusive body is that bulk rock and mineral compositions become more evolved with apparent depth, within the body as a whole and within each unit. Compositional variation within the individual intrusive units requires a complex interplay between in situ crystallization, variable expulsion of interstitial melt, magma recharge, and re-equilibration of primocrysts with trapped interstitial melt. Cross-cutting dykes of picritic gabbro (MgO = 13–21 %) have compositions consistent with olivine control. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb= 12.5 ± 1.3) suggest that the picritic gabbro magmas were derived from a distinct source region compared to that giving rise to the tholeiitic olivine gabbros (Zr/Nb = 6.8 ± 1.1).
Alkaline gabbro occupies the central region of the complex and, on the basis of major, trace and rare earth element variations, can be subdivided into four distinct intrusive bodies, interpreted as remnant magma chambers, each having experienced variable degrees of crystal accumulation. In places, magma chamber processes have given rise to centimetre-scale rhythmic layering. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb = 4.4 ± 1.2) serve to distinguish the source region of the alkaline gabbro magmas from those giving rise to the tholeiitic suite of magmas. Younger rocks of both the tholeiitic and alkaline suites show strong evidence of the effects of extensive crystal fractionation. The quartz syenite is characterized by a strong negative Eu anomaly indicative of substantial feldspar fractionation and also shows evidence for direct contamination by earlier gabbro, whereas the syenite shows evidence for feldspar accumulation. Both syenites have geochemical characteristics suggesting consanguinity with the Outer Zone rocks of the olivine gabbro–quartz monzodiorite intrusion. In contrast, the essexite and nepheline syenite compositions are qualitatively consistent with derivation from one of the alkaline gabbro magmas by extensive fractionation of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, olivine and amphibole. The final stage of magmatism is represented by a suite of alkaline and ultramafic lamprophyres emplaced as dykes and diatremes, the latter carrying a variety of megacrystic and xenolithic material, including mantle nodules. The alternation between tholeiitic and alkaline magmatism evident within the Okenyenya complex is similar to that characteristic of the evolution of many ocean island volcanoes.
Geochronology of the Nabwal Hills: a record of earliest magmatism in the northern Kenyan Rift Valley
- IAN McDOUGALL, RONALD T. WATKINS
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- Journal:
- Geological Magazine / Volume 143 / Issue 1 / January 2006
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 28 October 2005, pp. 25-39
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The Nabwal Hills, northeast of Lake Turkana, contain a record of magmatism associated with the initiation and early development of the East African Rift System in northernmost Kenya. The predominantly volcanic Asille Group, 1400 m thick, directly overlies metamorphic basement and comprises a sequence of basaltic lava flows with significant intervals of rhyolitic pyroclastic units, and minor intercalations of fluviatile sediments. The basement gneisses yield K–Ar cooling ages on biotite of 510 and 522 Ma, typically Pan-African. The 40Ar–39Ar ages on alkali feldspar crystals from the rhyolitic units are concordant and show that the Asille Group spans an interval from at least 34.3 to 15.8 Ma, continuing to at least as young as 13 Ma based on previous measurements. Vertebrate fossil sites, containing primate remains, at Irile and Nabwal are shown to be 17 ± 2 Ma old, Early Miocene, based upon K–Ar age measurements on immediately overlying basalts. Variably reliable whole rock K–Ar ages, determined on basalt samples from low in the sequence, indicate that volcanism commenced as early as 34.8 Ma ago. The overall geochronological results show that magmatism in the Nabwal Hills began about 35 Ma ago in Late Eocene times, interpreted as the time of initiation of crustal extension that led to the development of this segment of the East African Rift System. The Asille Group is tilted about 6° to the SSW. This tilting occurred later than 13 Ma ago, and prior to the eruption of the flat-lying Gombe Group basalts. These basalts may have begun erupting about 6 Ma ago in Late Miocene times, although much of this volcanism occurred between about 3.9 and 4.2 Ma ago in Pliocene times. It is suggested that the main rifting, which continues today, commenced in Late Miocene times, less than 13 Ma ago, and is partly reflected in the tilting of the Asille Group.