What is creating Rift Valley in Africa?

What is creating Rift Valley in Africa?

Millions of years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was connected to Africa. Seafloor spreading caused the Arabian and African plates to rift apart. The Indian Ocean flooded the rift valley between the continents, creating the Red Sea. Today, Africa and Asia are connected by the triangle of the Sinai Peninsula.

Where is the African Rift Valley located?

Eastern Africa The Rift Valley, located in Eastern Africa, covers just over 2% of the continent and spreads over seven countries (Map 5 and Table 29). min. max. The Rift Valley consists of a group of independent interior basins, extending from Djibouti in the north to Tanzania in the south, nearly half being located in Ethiopia.

Are there rift valleys in Africa?

Throughout the East African Rift, the continent of Africa is splitting in two. The African plate, sometimes called the Nubian plate, carries most of the continent, while the smaller Somali plate carries Horn of Africa. The two major rift valley systems of the East African Rift are the Gregory Rift and the Western Rift.

What part of Africa is the the Great Rift Valley mainly located?

The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia.

Why is the Rift Valley important?

The system of rift valleys that characterizes the African continent represents a perfect environment to understand the evolution of mankind; for the important paleoanthropological discoveries in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire, the African rift valleys are indeed considered the "cradle of mankind", that is ...

How was Great Rift Valley formed?

Geologists know that the Rift Valley was formed by violent subterranean forces that tore apart the earth's crust. These forces caused huge chunks of the crust to sink between parallel fault lines and force up molten rock in volcanic eruptions.

How old is the Great Rift Valley?

The rift has been forming for some 30 million years (as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula separated) and has been accompanied by extensive volcanism along parts of its length, producing such massifs as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.

Is the Great Rift Valley in Kenya?

Stretching from the Lebanon to Mozambique, Africa's Great Rift Valley is a 6,000-mile crack in the earth's crust, and much of it is to be found in Kenya, where it has literally cut the country in two. The Valley contains some of the world's finest lakes, mountains and plains.

Which is the longest rift valley in the world?

List

World	Rift/Valley	Length
Earth	Great Rift Valley	6,000 km (3,700 mi)
Canadian Arctic Rift System	4,800 km (3,000 mi)
West Antarctic Rift System
Midcontinent Rift System	2,000 km (1,200 mi)

Where is the crack in Kenya?

The large crack that recently exposed itself in Kenya is from the East African Rift. In the 3,700 mile-long East African Rift, there are two smaller systems called the Gregory Rift and the Western Rift, and each is speckled with volcanoes.