Spatial and temporal relationship between alkaline magmatism and early rifting in north/central Sudan

The pre-break-up extensional deformation of Gondwana began in the Permo-Triassic in widely separated areas with minor rifting events: along the East African margin, inside southern and eastern Africa and in the Tethys (Guiraud et al. 1992). The break-up began in the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous along the present-day continental margins of Africa and started to affect the interior of the African plate from the Late Jurassic onwards (Fairhead & Binks 1991).