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This paper provides an insight into the structures, lithologies, and potential zones and their relationships to gold mineralisation that were investigated to decipher the controls of gold mineralisation at the Kibati Gold Prospect within the Mozambique Belt. Although the Kibati area is located within the gold mineralised zone, lithology and subsurface geological structures associated with gold mineralisation are not well studied. The available high-resolution aeromagnetic data have not yet also been analysed and interpreted to derive geological features that are useful in mineral exploration. The investigation of the structures and lithologies was accomplished through integrated interpretation of high-resolution aeromagnetic data, ground magnetic data, geological mapping, and rock sampling. Aeromagnetic and ground magnetic results reveal the presence of two structural systems, which were previously not identified that trend in NW–SE and NE–SW, with the NW–SE being the dominant control of gold mineralisation. The subsurface structure with NW–SE trending controls the mineralised fluids as a consequence of gold mineralisation in the surface lithologies. Petrography and geological mapping show that granitic gneiss, garnet-biotite quartzo-feldspathic gneiss, dolerite, and amphibolite are the main exposed outcrops where the first two identified types of gneisses, based on their protolith, were previously not specified. Based on the gold assay results, which are persistent and collinear to the structural trend of NW–SE picked out by magnetic data, two (2) potential blocks (A and B) were identified. The trend of the structure in blocks A and B when overlaid with gold anomalies indicates that most of the gold concentrations are located in block B and the highest value of gold concentrations is located in block A where gold values range from 10.19 to 19.680 g/t in block A and 0.0623 to 4.419 g/t in block B. The difference in gold values between blocks A and B is due to the variation in the degree of alteration. The integration of the results indicates that the gold mineralisation in the Kibati area is structurally controlled and concentrated in shear zones. The findings therefore, indicate that the Mozambique Belt is potential for gold mineralisation and provide a warrant for future plan for gold exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismicity patterns and focal mechanisms in southeastern Tanzania, determined from data recorded on temporary and permanent AfricaArray seismic stations, have been used to investigate the propagation direction of the Eastern branch of the East African Rift System southward from the Northern Tanzania Divergence Zone (NTDZ). Within the NTDZ, the rift zone is defined by three segments, the Eyasi segment to the west, the Manyara segment in the middle, and the Pangani segment to the east. Results show that most of the seismicity (~ 75%) extends to the south of the Manyara segment along the eastern margin of the Tanzania Craton, and at ~ 6–7° S latitude trends to the SE along the northern boundary of the Ruvuma microplate, connecting with a N–S zone of seismicity offshore southern Tanzania and Mozambique. A lesser amount of seismicity (~ 25%) is found extending from the SE corner of the Tanzania Craton at ~ 6–7° S latitude southwards towards Lake Nyasa. This finding supports a model of rift propagation via the Manyara segment to the southeast of the Tanzania Craton along the northern boundary of the Ruvuma microplate. However, given the limited duration of the seismic recordings used in this study, the possibility of another zone of extension developing to the south towards Lake Nyasa (Malawi) cannot be ruled out. Focal mechanisms along the boundary between the Victoria and the Ruvuma microplates and offshore southeastern Tanzania show a combination of normal and strike slip faulting indicating mainly extension with some sinistral motion, consistent with the mapped geologic faults and a clockwise rotation of the Ruvuma microplate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]