Post-Jurassic erosion-surfaces in eastern Kenya and their deformation in relation to rift structure

Abstract

Remnants of three cyclic erosion-bevels (the end-Cretaceous, sub-Miocene, and end-Tertiary) of eastern Kenya are described. The nature and magnitude of the crustal movements—epeirogenic uplift, inland upwarping, and coastal down-flexing—that terminated the erosion-cycles are estimated and are related to contemporaneous warping and faulting in the Gregory Rift Valley and in the southern coastal zone; they are also related to coastal sedimentation and other geological events. An estimate is made of the sedimentary contents of the lower Tana basin, a coastal downwarped area.