Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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.
The Southern Rift Valley lakes are like the Western Rift Valley lakes in that, with one exception, they are freshwater lakes. Lake Rukwa (about 5,670 square kilometres (2,190 sq mi) but quite variable) in Tanzania is the alkaline exception, lying south-east of Tanganyika, and has no outlet.
Map of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley (Swahili: Bonde la ufa) is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Mozambique in Southeast Africa.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge includes a deep rift valley that runs along the axis of the ridge for nearly its entire length. This rift marks the actual boundary between adjacent tectonic plates, where magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor, erupting as lava and producing new crustal material for the plates.
(The ridge also has a secondary rift valley running its length.) The width is an average taken along the spreading ridges (Georgia–Senegal, Brazil – Bight of Benin, etc.). The greatest depth is the Romanche Trench. (The Puerto Rico Trench is not part of the rift system.) Great Rift Valley: 6,000 km (3,700 mi) 220 km (140 mi) 2 km (1 mi)
A team led by Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen concluded that there was an enormous mountain chain with a rift valley at its crest, running up the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists named it the 'Mid-Atlantic Ridge'. Other research showed that the ridge crest was seismically active [45] and fresh lavas were found in the rift valley. [46]
Main volcanoes and lakes in the rift valley. The valley is bordered by escarpments to the east and west. The floor is broken by volcanoes, some still active, and contains a series of lakes. Some of the soils are Andisols, fertile soils from relatively recent volcanic activity. Lake Turkana occupies the northern end of the Great Rift Valley in ...
This was changed by the formation of the Great Rift Valley. A rift is a weak place in Earth's crust due to the separation of two tectonic plates, often accompanied by a graben, or trough, in which lake water can collect. This rift began when East Africa, impelled by currents in the mantle, began separating from the rest of Africa, moving to the ...