The Aswa Dislocation, also called the Aswa mylonite belt, Aswa Lineament or Aswa Shear Zone, is a north-west trending ductile shear zone that runs to the east of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

in East Africa.

Extent

The lineament dates to the

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

era and thus is much older than the East African Rift System. It probably extends northwest to

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

in Sudan, perhaps along the Abu Gabra Rift, and perhaps southeast to the Lindi fault zone on the Indian Ocean coast, passing through the

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

and

Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano, extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

volcanic centers.

Connection to the East African rift system

The fault seems to have been partly reactivated during the

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

in the section between the Albertine and Gregory rifts, and along its southern extension towards the Indian Ocean. The reactivated section of the Aswa lineament connects the eastern and western branches of the East African rift system. It seems also to truncate the Nyanza rift, which extends ENE from Lake Victoria. The section of the Aswa Dislocation between the two rifts forms part of the boundary between the Somali plate and the African plate.

References

;Sources * * * * Geology of Africa Seismic faults of Africa Shear zones {{palaeo-geo-stub