How long is the Great Rift Valley?
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, that runs from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon which is in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa.
What type of plate boundary is the Rift Valley?
Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates.
How many rift valleys are there on Earth?
Earth’s Rift Valleys. Two of this kind of rift valleys are currently active namely the Baikal Rift Zone and the East African Rift in addition to a third speculated to be the West Antarctic Rift. In the case of such rift valleys, tectonic plates are gradually breaking to form new plates and may ultimately become oceanic rifts.
How wide is the Ethiopian Rift Valley?
The Ethiopian rift valley is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide and bordered on both margins by large, discontinuous normal faults that give rise to major tectonic escarpments separating the rift floor from the surrounding plateaus.
How long is the Great Rift Valley?
Map of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, that runs from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon which is in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it is considered an ...
Where is the Great Rift?
In Kenya, Uganda and the fringes of South Sudan, the Great Rift runs along two separate branches that are joined to each other only at their southern end, in Southern Tanzania along its border with Zambia. The two branches are called the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley . The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, ...
How deep is Lake Malawi?
The southern section of the Rift Valley includes Lake Malawi, the third-deepest freshwater body in the world, reaching 706 metres (2,316 ft) in depth and separating the Nyassa plateau of Northern Mozambique from Malawi; it ends in the Zambezi valley.
How long ago was the Dead Sea Transform formed?
These rifts and faults were formed 35 million years ago .
What are the two branches of the Rift Valley?
The two branches are called the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley . The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, is bordered by some of the highest mountains in Africa, including the Virunga Mountains, Mitumba Mountains, and Ruwenzori Range. It contains the Rift Valley lakes, which include some of the deepest lakes in the world ...
What is the East African Rift Valley?
East African Rift Valley. East Africa with active volcanoes (red triangles) and the Afar Triangle (shaded, center)—a triple junction where three plates are pulling away from one another. The East African Rift follows the Red Sea to the end before turning inland into the Ethiopian highlands, dividing the country into two large and adjacent ...
Where is the deepest valley in Kenya?
In Kenya, the valley is deepest to the north of Nairobi. As the lakes in the Eastern Rift have no outlet to the sea and tend to be shallow, they have a high mineral content as the evaporation of water leaves the salts behind.
How wide is the Rift Valley?
Updated March 30, 2019. The Rift Valley of eastern Africa and Asia (sometimes called the Great Rift Valley [GRV] or East African Rift system [EAR or EARS]) is an enormous geological split in the crust of the earth, thousands of kilometers long, up to 125 miles (200 kilometers) wide, and between a few hundred to thousands ...
Where was the Rift Valley located?
The interior of the rift valley was isolated from the rest of Africa during the Pleistocene ice age and sheltered freshwater lakes located in savannahs. As with other animals, our early ancestors may have found refuge there when the ice covered much of the planet and then evolved as hominids within its tall shoulders.
What is the GRV?
In 1921, Gregory described the GRV as a system of graben basins which included the valleys of the Red and Dead Seas in western Asia, as the Afro-Arabian rift system. Gregory's interpretation of the GRV formation was that two faults had opened up and a central piece dropped down forming the valley (called a graben ).
What causes the abortion of the Ethiopian Rift?
Corti, Giacomo, et al. " Aborted Propagation of the Ethiopian Rift Caused by Linkage with the Kenyan Rift ." Nature Communications 10.1 (2019): 1309. Print.
What is the name of the valley that is flanked by uplifted shoulders that step down to the central?
The Eastern African Rift Valley is a long valley flanked by uplifted shoulders that step down to the central rift by more or less parallel faults. The main valley is classed as a continental rift, extending from 12 degrees north to 15 degrees south of our planet's equator.
How long has the rifting occurred?
In many areas, there have been repeated rifting events, including at least seven phases of rifting over the past 200 million years.
What is the role of the valley in the migration of animals?
The valley acts as a north-south corridor for the migration of animals and birds and inhibits east/west movements.
Where is the most extensive rift valley?
The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading. Examples of this type of rift include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise .
What are the two rift valleys?
Many existing continental rift valleys are the result of a failed arm ( aulacogen) of a triple junction, although there are two, the East African Rift and the Baikal Rift Zone, which are currently active, as well as a third which may be, the West Antarctic Rift System.
What are the features of Venus?
Some features of Venus, most notably, the 4,000 km Devana Chasma and a part of the western Eistla, and possibly also Alta and Bell Regio have been interpreted by some planetary geologists as rift valleys. Some natural satellites also have prominent rift valleys.
How are rift valleys formed?
Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear depression may subsequently be further deepened by the forces of erosion.
What happens if continental rifts break apart?
If they continue, continental rifts will eventually become oceanic rifts. Other rift valleys are the result of bends or discontinuities in horizontally-moving (strike-slip) faults.
Where do rift lakes occur?
On Earth, rifts can occur at all elevations, from the sea floor to plateaus and mountain ranges in continental crust or in oceanic crust.
Which lake is the deepest in the world?
Lake Baikal in Siberia, a World Heritage Site, lies in an active rift valley. Baikal is both the deepest lake in the world and, with 20% of all of the liquid freshwater on earth, has the greatest volume. Lake Tanganyika, second by both measures, is in the Albertine Rift, the westernmost arm of the active East African Rift.
Where is the Great Rift Valley?
The Great Rift Valley lies between the Ethiopian Plateau to the north and the Somalia Plateau to the south. The rift developed as the Nubian and Somali plates began to separate during the Miocene Period along the East African rift system.
How wide is the Ethiopian Rift Valley?
The rift is extending in an ESE-WNW direction at about 5–7 millimetres (0.20–0.28 inches) annually. The Ethiopian rift valley is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide and bordered on both margins by large, discontinuous normal faults that give rise to major tectonic escarpments separating the rift floor from the surrounding plateaus.
What is the extension of the rift valley?
In the northern part of the rift, extension within the valley is now thought to be mainly along these faulted and magmatically active segments. These segments are considered to be developing mid ocean ridge spreading centers.
Why are the Rift Valley lakes important?
Although the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes are of great importance to Ethiopia's economy , as well as being essential to the survival of the local people, there were no intensive and extensive limnological studies undertaken of these lakes until recently. The major ones are.
How thick is the Rift Valley?
This rift valley has proven difficult to assess as it lies under the Antarctic Ice Sheet which can be over 1.2 miles thick. The most notable rift valley is perhaps the Great Rift Valley which extends from the Middle East down to Mozambique.
What is the Great Rift Valley?
The Great Rift Valley in Africa. A rift valley is a huge fracture on continental and oceanic plates which widens gradually over extensive periods of times. A rift valley is a landform whose formation is triggered by a geologic rift or fault. The landform manifests as an elongated lowland in the middle of mountain ranges or several highlands.
How are rift valleys created?
The depressed regions of a rift valley are created by one or more grabens. A graben is a valley having faults of two or more sides set up by the divergence of tectonic plates. When the tensional forces are strong enough to make the plates to split apart, the central block drops between the two blocks at its flanks and creates a graben.
Where is the Rio Grande Rift Valley?
The Rio Grande Rift Valley extends from the central part of Colorado to Chihuahua in Mexico. It separates the Colorado Plateau from the older region (craton) of the North American Plate. The Baikal Rift Valley stretches for 1200 miles in Siberia in the eastern part of Russia. It occurs at a divergence point as the Amur Plate has been gradually detaching itself from the Eurasian Plate. The West Antarctic Rift Valley features a series of smaller rifts which separate East and West Antarctica. This rift valley has proven difficult to assess as it lies under the Antarctic Ice Sheet which can be over 1.2 miles thick. The most notable rift valley is perhaps the Great Rift Valley which extends from the Middle East down to Mozambique. It is geologically active and such events as earthquakes and volcanoes are common occurrences.
Where do rift valleys occur?
A rift valley’s walls may stand at heights of hundred feets, and they drop away in the form of terraces and steps. Rift valleys occur on the continents as well as on the ocean floor where they arise from seafloor separation.
Where are the largest lakes in the world?
Some the largest lakes in the world are situated in rift valleys. Lake Baikal lies in Siberia, and it is the world’s deepest lake. The second deepest lake in the world, Lake Tanganyika, is located in the East African Rift.
How are rift valleys formed?
What is the connection between plate tectonics and rift valleys? Rift valleys are formed by the movement of plate tectonics; moreover, plate tectonics are formed when tectonic plates separate or move apart from each other. When these plates separate, they move in opposite directions at divergent plate boundaries. As this thinning land separates, volcanic matter has space to break through the Earth's surface as lava. Over time, this process leads to the creation of geographical features such as rift valleys. Over time, bodies of water may engulf rift valleys as seen in the image below.
What are some examples of rift valleys?
Some examples of rift valleys are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the East African Rift Valley, the Rio Grande Rift Valley, and the East Pacific Rift Valley.
What is a divergent rift valley?
A rift valley is divergent. Divergent plate boundaries are associated with the separation of plate tectonics. Convergent boundaries, on the other hand, involve tectonic plates being pushed together.
What plate is in the East African Rift Valley?
The East African Rift Valley involves the Arabian, Somalian plate separating from the Nubian plate.
How is the East African Rift Valley formed?
The East African Rift Valley is formed by a triple junction-three plates moving away from one another.
How is the Mid Ocean Ridge formed?
This Mid-Ocean Ridge is formed by the process of seafloor spreading.
How old is the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
This extensive chain of underwater mountain ranges is approximately 200 million years old and stretches 16,000 kilometers long. Separation of the Eurasian and North American plates, and the African and South American Plates, helped to create the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Example of Rift Valley
History of The Rift Valley Studies
- Following on the mid-to-late-19th-century, the efforts of dozens of explorers, including the legendary David Livingstone, Austrian geologist Eduard Suess devised the concept of an East African rift fracture, which was named the Great Rift Valley of East Africa by British geologist John Walter Gregory in 1896. Gregory identified the GRV as the Afro-Arabian rift system in 1921, descr…
Great Rift Valley
- The "Great Rift Valley System," which runs from the Middle East to Mozambique in the south, is possibly the most well-known rift valley on the planet. Volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and earthquakes abound in this geologically active region. The Great Rift Valley, on the other hand, is a cultural concept rather than a scientific one today. The rift valleys in the "system" are all connect…
The Great Rift Valley Location
- The Great Rift Valley is a 5,000-kilometre-long geological and topographical feature that stretches from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa. The valley's breadth ranges from thirty to one hundred kilometres, and its depth ranges from a few hundred to thousands of metres. John Walter Gregory, an explorer, gave it h...
African Rift Valleys
- The East African Rift System is one of the world's geologic wonders, a region where the earth's tectonic forces are currently attempting to split apart old plates in order to generate new ones. A rift is a widening crack in the earth's surface, or more properly, an extended basin defined by opposing steeply descending normal faults. The Gregory Rift and the Western Rift are the East A…
Famous Rift Valleys and Facts
- East Rift Valley, Taiwan
- Jordan Rift Valley, Israel, and Jordan
- Baikal Rift Valley, southern Siberia
- Great Rift Valley, East Africa
Did You Know?
- Grabens, which means "ditch" in German, are a common name for rift valleys. Despite the fact that there is no official distinction between a graben and a rift valley, a graben is usually used to refer to a tiny rift valley.
Conclusion
- To sum up, we have discussed what is rift valley, its formation, and different types. The Rift Valley is being formed, most likely as a result of mantle plumes and eventually as a result of the African super swell. The East African Rift Structure is a complicated system of rift segments that serves as a modern analogy for how continents separate.
Overview
The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it is considered an imprecise merging of separate though related rift and fault systems.
Theoretical extent
Today these rifts and faults are seen as distinct, although connected, but originally, the Great Rift Valley was thought to be a single feature that extended from Lebanon in the north to Mozambique in the south, where it constitutes one of two distinct physiographic provinces of the East African mountains. It included what today is called the Lebanese section of the Dead Sea Transform, the Jord…
Asia
The northernmost parts of the Rift corresponds to the central section of what is called today the Dead Sea Transform (DST) or Rift. This midsection of the DST forms the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, separating the Lebanon from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Further south it is known as the Hula Valley separating the Galilee mountains and the Golan Heights.
Africa
The East African Rift follows the Red Sea to the end before turning inland into the Ethiopian highlands, dividing the country into two large and adjacent but separate mountainous regions. In Kenya, Uganda, and the fringes of South Sudan, the Great Rift runs along two separate branches that are joined to each other only at their southern end, in Southern Tanzania along its border with Zam…
See also
• Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia
• Great Rift Valley, Kenya
• The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart, a BBC/Animal Planet production
• Main earthquakes
Further reading
• Africa's Great Rift Valley, 2001, ISBN 0-8109-0602-3
• Tribes of the Great Rift Valley, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8109-9411-9
• East African Rift Valley lakes, 2006, OCLC 76876862
• Photographic atlas of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Rift Valley, 1977, ISBN 0-387-90247-3
External links
• Article on geology.com
• Geological Structure
• "Great Rift Valley" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
Geography and Topography
History of The Rift Valley Studies
- Following on the mid- to late-19th-century work of dozens of explorers including the famous David Livingstone, the concept of an East African rift fracture was established by Austrian geologist Eduard Suess, and named the Great Rift Valley of East Africa in 1896 by British geologist John Walter Gregory. In 1921, Gregory described the GRV as a system of graben basins which include…
Paleontology in The Rift Valley
- In the 1970s, paleontologist Richard Leakey designated the East African Rift region as the "Cradle of Mankind," and there is no doubt that the earliest hominids—members of the Homospecies—arose within its boundaries. Why that happened is a matter of conjecture, but may have something to do with the steep valley walls and microclimates created within them. The int…
Rift Evolution
- Analysis of the rift reported by German geologist Sascha Brune and colleagues in March 2019 (Corti et al. 2019) suggests that although the rift began as two overlapping disconnected rifts (Ethiopian and Kenyan), the lateral offset that lies in the Turkana depression has evolved and continues to evolve into a single oblique rift. In March of 2018, a great crack measuring 50 feet …
Selected Sources
- Blinkhorn, J., and M. Grove. "The Structure of the Middle Stone Age of Eastern Africa." Quaternary Science Reviews195 (2018): 1–20. Print.
- Chorowicz, Jean. "The East African Rift System." Journal of African Earth Sciences43.1–3 (2005): 379–410. Print.
- Corti, Giacomo, et al. "Aborted Propagation of the Ethiopian Rift Caused by Linkage with the K…
- Blinkhorn, J., and M. Grove. "The Structure of the Middle Stone Age of Eastern Africa." Quaternary Science Reviews195 (2018): 1–20. Print.
- Chorowicz, Jean. "The East African Rift System." Journal of African Earth Sciences43.1–3 (2005): 379–410. Print.
- Corti, Giacomo, et al. "Aborted Propagation of the Ethiopian Rift Caused by Linkage with the Kenyan Rift." Nature Communications10.1 (2019): 1309. Print.
- Deino, Alan L., et al. "Chronology of the Acheulean to Middle Stone Age Transition in Eastern Africa." Science360.6384 (2018): 95–98. Print.
