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Description The structure and volcanic activity of the northern Tanzania sector of the Gregory Rift Valley have hitherto been less well described than those in Ethiopia and Kenya. This book focuses on northern Tanzania where, although the volcanic area is smaller than those to the north, there are major features such as Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African continent; Ngorongoro, one of the largest calderas on Earth; and Oldoinyo Lengai, the world’s only active carbonatite volcano. Following an account of the discovery and early exploration of the rift valley, there are descriptions of the individual volcanoes. These are set within the context of the regional geology and geophysics of the rift valley, and in relation to the structural evolution of the rift and its associated sedimentary basins which include Olduvai, an important site in the history of human evolution The volume concludes with a discussion of the volcanism as related to the plume-related African Superswell.

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Discovery of the African rift valleys: early work on the Gregory Rift Valley and volcanoes in Northern Tanzania Regional geology Geophysical evidence for the structure of the crust and upper mantle of the Tanzania craton and the Gregory Rift Valley Tectonic development of the rift structures Rift-associated sedimentary basins The Neogene–Recent volcanic rocks Regional comparisons, petrochemistry and petrogenesis Future work Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Index

Reviews

Although the central theme is the volcanoes, this work will be of interest to geophysicists, structural geologists and geomorphologists, because the author is effective in using the volcanology to explore interrelationships between these specialised fields.
….read and enjoy this landmark publication.

Ken Bailey, University of Bristol.
Review was featured in Geoscientist Vol 20 No. 1 2010

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
10 March 2010

This Memoir effectively summarizes the truly remarkable and visually spectacular volcanic province in northern Tanzania toward the southern end of the Gregory Rift or eastern branch of the East African rift system.

….It is an invaluable addition to the geological literature as it provides an authoritative summary of this region, which contains so many unusual, even unique rock types.

The volume is well illustrated with geological maps, photographs, tables of representative chemical analyses of volcanic rocks, as well as figures showing some of the voluminous geochemical data available. Colour photographs of several of the volcanoes and photomicrographs of some of the rocks enhance the volume. In reviewing the geochemistry of the volcanic rocks, Dawson presents persuasive evidence that the bulk of the magmas, whether basaltic or carbonatitic, originate from the upper mantle, and that any assimilation of continental crustal material is minor or absent.

The author is to be congratulated in giving the geological community a very useful reference guide to this intriguing region and its volcanism.

Ian McDougall
This review was featured in the Journal of Geological Magazine, vol 147/2 2010

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
20 July 2010