Blue Nile Basin

The Blue Nile Basin is a major geological structure in the northwestern Ethiopian Plateau formed in the Mesozoic Era during a period of crustal extension associated with the break-up of Gondwana, and filled with sedimentary deposits.

In the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods the basin rose, and the 280 m upper sandstone sediments, both alluvial or fluvial, were deposited.

These layers have been exposed where the Blue Nile river has cut through the strata, creating a 1,600 m gorge where the rocks of different periods can be studied.

However, the architecture of the basin is not well known in other areas due to the thick upper layer of comparatively recent volcanic rock.

In the Quaternary (2.5 Ma - present) the region was subject to further stresses as the Main Ethiopian rift opened obliquely, creating N, ESE and NW trending extensions within the basin.