G. Yirgu, C.J. Ebinger and P.K.H. Maguire (editors) 2006. The Afar Volcanic Province within the East African Rift System.Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 259. 327 pp. ISBN 10: 1-86239-196-3, ISBN 13: 978-1-86239-196-3 (hardback) price £80.00/US$144.00, Members of GSL £40/$93.60, AAPG/SEPM/GSA/RAS/EFG/PESGB/TMS £48.00/$87.00

The East African Rift System has for long been regarded as providing a potential key or keys to understanding processes embodied in plate tectonics. Its study has attracted earth scientists for more than a century, often working in physically challenging and sometimes dangerous regions. The Afar region, located at the junction of three major Earth structures, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Ethiopian Rift, exemplifies this spectacularly. The challenges and potential rewards arising from its investigation still attract the attention of geologists and geophysicists, eager to brave the rigour of working in this part of north-east Africa. This Special Publication includes a selection of the papers presented at an international conference held in Addis Ababa in June 2004 entitled ‘The East African Rift System: Geodynamics, Resources and Environment’. The editors’ introduction describes the setting of the more than 1 million km3 of basalts and less abundant rhyolites in the uplifted Ethiopian–Yeman Plateau, where volcanism commenced about 45 Ma ago and continues to the present day. Key events in the volcano-tectonic history include: continental rifting in the Gulf of Aden at ~35 Ma that preceded the eruption of the Ethiopian–Yeman flood basalts; rifting in the Red Sea beginning at 28 Ma; extension in the southern and central sectors of the Main Ethiopian Rift at ~18 Ma, and in the northern sector at ~11 Ma at …