Landforms
The Great Rift Valley
Also Known As East African Rift Sources commonly use the two names interchangeably, though East African Rift more precisely names the whole tectonic rift system, of which the Great Rift Valley's Eastern branch is the best-known surface expression.
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A continuous geographic trench running from Lebanon in the Levant south through the Red Sea and East Africa to Mozambique, marking the boundary where the African tectonic plate is slowly splitting into the Nubian and Somali plates. Its African stretch holds a chain of deep rift lakes, including Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, and volcanic highlands whose fossil record has been central to the study of early human evolution.
Facts
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The Rift African stretch, including Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi and its volcanic highlands, runs directly through this region.
The Great Rift Valley is the active surface trace of a divergent plate boundary splitting the African Plate into the Nubian and Somali plates.
The Horn's mountains and highlands were raised by the same Great Rift Valley system.
Demonstrates
An active continental rift zone with ongoing volcanic activity along its length.
On Continent
Sources
1. United States Geological Survey
2. East African Rift (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationOpening sectionQuote, Opening section
A narrow zone, the rift is a developing divergent tectonic plate boundary where the African plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates.
2. East African Rift (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox coordinatesQuote, Infobox coordinates
3°00′S 35°30′E / 3.0°S 35.5°E / -3.0; 35.5
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Horn of Africa (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGeography section, Great Rift Valley associated-with edgeQuote, Geography section, Great Rift Valley associated-with edge
The region consists chiefly of mountains formed by the Great Rift Valley, a fissure extending from Turkey to Mozambique.
British Geological Survey
British Geological SurveyAssociated With: Plate Tectonics, Discovering Geology: plate tectonicsView the Source Kenya (Wikipedia)
Lake Tanganyika (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Lake Tanganyika, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Lake Tanganyika, Lead section
Lake Tanganyika... located within the Albertine Rift, part of the East African Rift system.
Lake Malawi (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Lake Malawi, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Lake Malawi, Lead section
the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system
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