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Map of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley (Swahili: Bonde la ufa) is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. [1]
East African Rift System, one of the most extensive rifts on Earth’s surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The system is some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 miles (48–64 km) wide.
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Geologists are still debating exactly how rifting comes about, but the process is so well displayed in East Africa (Ethiopia-Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania) that geologists have attached a name to the new plate-to-be; the Nubian Plate makes up most of Africa, while the smaller plate that is pulling away has been named the Somalian Plate (Figure 1). These tw...
The point where these three plates meet in the Afar region of Ethiopia forms what is called a triple-junction. However, all the rifting in East Africa is not confined to the Horn of Africa; there is a lot of rifting activity further south as well, extending into Kenya and Tanzania and Great Lakes region of Africa. The purpose of this paper is to di...
These two branches together have been termed the East African Rift (EAR), while parts of the Eastern branch have been variously termed the Kenya Rift or the Gregory Rift (after the geologist who first mapped it in the early 1900's). The two EAR branches are often grouped with the Ethiopian Rift to form the East Africa Rift System (EARS).
The exact mechanism of rift formation is an on-going debate among geologists and geophysicists. One popular model for the EARS assumes that elevated heat flow from the mantle (strictly the asthenosphere) is causing a pair of thermal \"bulges\" in central Kenya and the Afar region of north-central Ethiopia. These bulges can be easily seen as elevate...
As these bulges form, they stretch and fracture the outer brittle crust into a series of normal faults forming the classic horst and graben structure of rift valleys (Figure 3). Most current geological thinking holds that bulges are initiated by mantle plumes under the continent heating the overlying crust and causing it to expand and fracture. The...
If the rifting process described occurs in a continental setting, then we have a situation similar to what is now occurring in Kenya where the East African/Gregory Rift is forming. In this case it is referred to as \"continental rifting\" (for obvious reasons) and provides a glimpse into what may have been the early development of the Ethiopian Rif...
As mentioned in Part I, the rifting of East Africa is complicated by the fact that two branches have developed, one to the west which hosts the African Great Lakes (where the rift filled with water) and another nearly parallel rift about 600 kilometers to the east which nearly bisects Kenya north-to-south before entering Tanzania where it seems to ...
Lake Victoria sits between these two branches. It is thought that these rifts are generally following old sutures between ancient continental masses that collided billions of years ago to form the African craton and that the split around the Lake Victoria region occurred due to the presence of a small core of ancient metamorphic rock, the Tanzania ...
What else can we say about the Ethiopian and Kenya Rifts? Quite a lot actually; even though the Eastern and Western branches were developed by the same processes they have very different characters. The Eastern Branch is characterized by greater volcanic activity while the Western Branch is characterized by much deeper basins that contain large lak...
James Wood has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University and is currently Professor of Geology at the Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan where he teaches Earth History, Geochemistry, Remote Mapping and conducts a field course every spring in East Africa. His main research interests are energy deposits, mainly gas and oil, and doing f...
The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa. Astronauts say it is the most significant physical detail on the planet that is visible from space.
Jan 4, 2024 · Very few active rift valleys are found on continental lithosphere. The East African Rift, the Baikal Rift Valley, the West Antarctic Rift, and the Rio Grande Rift are Earth’s major active continental rift valleys. The East African Rift is part of the “Great Rift Valley” system discussed below.
Mar 30, 2019 · The Great Rift Valley is a huge fracture in the crust of the earth in the eastern part of Africa. Crustal rifts are found all over the world, but the one in East Africa is the largest. The rift is a complex series of faultlines that runs from the Red Sea down into Mozambique.
The Great Rift Valley or East African Rift is a continuous geographical trench, about 6,440 kilometres (3,700 mi) in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa. The rift is bordered by a series of mountains and active volcanoes. It is a site of faults and earthquakes .
