1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
Pan African Orogen (PAO) was formerly introduced by Kennedy (1964) to designate the peak of a wide spread orogenic thermo-tectonic episode characterized by intense period of reactivation and crustal formation. The term Pan African Orogen was used to describe the structural differentiation of Africa into cratons and mobile belts during the Neoproterozoic to earliest Paleozoic time (Kennedy, 1964). However, Kröner (1984) reformulate the term Pan-African to describe the tectonic, magmatic, and metamorphic activity of Neoproterozoic to earliest Paleozoic age throughout the Gondwanaland and in many parts of Laurasia. East Africa orogen (EAO) was formed by the closuring of Mozambique Ocean during the collision of East and West Gondwana (Stern, 1994; Kröner and Stern, 2005; Fritz et al., 2013). It represents the greatest collision zone which extends from southern Israel in the north to Madagascar to the south. The Neoproterozoic basement of Ethiopia is found at the transition between the northern and southern sectors of the East African Orogen (EAO) namely the Arabian-Nubian Shield and the Mozambique Belt respectively (Kazmin et al., 1978; Tarekegn Tadesse et al., …show more content…
General description of the study area
1.2.1. Location
The study area is located around Mai Kinetal in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. Geographically, the study area is bounded between 1530000 m and 1538000 m N latitude and 497000 m and 505000m E longitude (Fig.1.1). The area coverage of study area is approximately 64 Km2. The average elevation of the area is approximately 1650 m a.s.l.
1.2.2. Accessibility
The study area is accessed by asphalt road which is running from Addis Ababa through Mekelle, Hagere Selam, Abi Adi, Werki Amba, Mai Kinetal and Adwa. The mappable area is accessed by foot path and trails stretching to different locations of the study area.
Fig.1.1: Location map and digital elevation model (DEM) of the study