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This study proposed a new reconstruction of the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Lake Albert Rift based on a biostratigraphical, sedimentological and structural re-evaluation of the outcropping data and on an exceptional subsurface dataset. The infilling of the rift consists of lacustrine deposits wherein two major unconformities dated at 6.2 Ma and 2.7 Ma were characterized, coeval with major subsidence and climatic changes. Combined with the fault analysis, the evolution and distribution of the subsidence highlights a four-steps evolution of the rift after its initiation dated at 17.0 Ma. The first phase (17.0 – 6.2 Ma) consists of low and diffuse extension associated with low accommodation rates ranging from 150 to 200 m/Ma. Restricted in the southern part of the basin, the depocenter location is poorly controlled by faults, meaning that the basin extension was potentially larger at this time. The second time interval (6.2 – 2.7 Ma) shows an increase of accommodation rates with values reaching more than 800 m/Ma. These high rates combined with the location of the major depocenters down the bounding faults argue for a first true rifting phase. Between 2.7 Ma and 0.4 Ma, the accommodation rates decreases to reach less than 400 m/Ma and the individualization of major depocenters continue down the major fault in the southern and northwestern parts of the basin. Finally, between 0.4 Ma and present-day, a late uplift led the formation of the Ugandan scarp. Comparison of the Lake Albert Rift evolution with the data available in the rifts of both branches of the East African Rift System shows that most of the sedimentary basins experienced the same geometrical evolution from large basins with limited fault control during Late Miocene to narrow true rift in Late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that ductile layers play a major role in the style and location of deformation. However, at the scale of a single normal fault, the impact of rheological layering is poorly constrained and badly understood, and there is a lack of information regarding the influence of several décollement levels within a sedimentary cover on the single fault geometry under purely extensive deformation. We present small-scale experiments that were built with interbedded layers of brittle and ductile materials and with minimum initial constraints (only a velocity discontinuity at the base of the experiment) on the normal fault geometry in order to investigate the influence of controlled parameters such as extension velocity, rate of extension, ductile thickness and varying stratigraphy on the 3D fault geometry. These experiments showed a broad-spectrum of tectonic features such as grabens, ramp-flat-ramp normal faults and reverse faults. Forced folds are associated with fault flats that develop in the décollement levels (refraction of the fault angle). One of the key points is that the normal fault geometry displays large variations in both direction and dip, despite the imposed homogeneous extension. This result is exclusively related to the presence of décollement levels, and is not associated with any global/regional variation in extension direction and/or inversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]