Abstract

In this seminar, I will report challenges and achievements related to the management of a portable network of broadband seismic instruments. The presentation has two main parts. In the first part, I will present the motivations for running a passive seismic network in the Olduvai basin, also referred to as the “Cradle of Mankind”, located off the southern tip of the eastern branch of the East African Rift. I will show how our network contributed to the planning of the next round of paleoanthropological investigations in the Olduvai basin and to the general understanding of the East African Rift evolution. In the second part, I will give an overview of the current seismic networks that we run in the western portion of the Arabian plate with the goal of revealing the big mysteries of the Red Sea rift and its collateral elements, such as transform faults, fracture zones and volcanism.