Southern Afar Rift margin is a 2S-30km wide zone separating the Somalian plateau fromrnthe Afar rift floor. It shows a complex fault pattern, characterized by the interplay of: (i) anrnE - W trending marginal fault system, (ii) a northwesterly major lineaments (faults) andrn(iii) a NE trending Nazareth fault system. The E - W oriented faults playa dominant rolernfor the present morphology of the southern Afar rift margin and for the existence of highlyrntilted Mesozoic rocks.rnRifting induced late Cenozoic volcanism in the southern Afar rift margin three main types.rnThe oldest felsic rocks, aligned parallel with the boundary faults, are formedrncontemporaneously with these faults. The olivine free basalts and the Rhyolites are foundrnwith in the marginal half grabens. And the youngest volcanic rocks of the area are the Afarrnstratoid series, erupted during further episode of rifting and tilting.rnThe marginal fault plane and bedding plane relationship of the area confirmed that the bedrnorientation is greatly controlled by the orientation of the faults. The strike of the beds andrnfaults is nearly similar; however, their dip amount is inversely related and their diprndirections lay opposite to each other.rnSystematic field observations and accurate measurements of the orientation of structuralrnelements have enabled to identify the nature of fau lts at depth: the presence of roll-overrnanticline structures together with the subsidiary normal faults led the author to concludernthat the nature of faults at depth is listric normal. The general fault pattern of the southernAfar rift margin, as well as mesoscopic fault analyses indicate the occurrence of a roughlyrnNNE-SSW extension with small component of dextral shear motion along the Rift margin.