BAIKAL RIFT: ACTIVE OR PASSIVE? - COMPARISON OF THE BAIKAL AND KENYA RIFT ZONES

Abstract

The comparison of geological and geophysical data from the Kenya and Baikal rift zones permits us to consider the formation of these zones to be associated with the development of wide asthenospheric upwellings beneath them. In this sense, both rifts are active. Differences between them in amounts of volcanics and geological features may be explained by a higher degree of partial melting of asthenospheric material beneath the Kenya rift.