Abstract:
Geodetic observations in the Turkana Depression of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya
constrain the kinematic relay of extension from a single rift in Ethiopia to parallel rifts in Kenya and
Uganda. Global Position System stations in the region record approximately 4.7 mm/year of total eastward
extension, consistent with the ITRF14 Euler pole for Nubia‐ Somalia angular velocity. Extension is
partitioned into high strain rates on localized structures and lower strain rates in areas of elevated
topography, as across the Ethiopian Plateau. Where high topography is absent, extension is relayed between
the Main Ethiopian Rift and the Eastern Rift across the Turkana Depression exclusively through localized
extension on and immediately east of Lake Turkana (up to 0.2 microstrain/year across Lake Turkana). The
observed scaling and location of active extension in the Turkana Depression are inconsistent with
mechanical models predicting distributed stretching due to either inherited lithospheric weakness or
reactivated structures oblique to the present‐ day extension direction.
