Great Rift Valley (redirected from Albertine Rift)

Great Rift Valley, geological fault system of SW Asia and E Africa. It extends c.3,000 mi (4,830 km) from N Syria to central Mozambique. The northernmost extension runs S through Syria and Lebanon, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. It continues into the trough of the Red Sea and at the southern end branches into the Gulf of Aden, where it continues as part of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge of the Indian Ocean. The main section of the valley in Africa continues from the Red Sea SW across Ethiopia and S across Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi to the lower Zambezi River valley in Mozambique. Many small lakes in Ethiopia and several long narrow lakes, notably lakes Turkana and Nyasa, lie on its course. Just N of Lake Nyasa there is a western branch, which runs north, chiefly along the eastern border of Congo (Kinshasa); this branch is marked by a chain of lakes, including lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward, and Albert (Mobutu). Lake Victoria does not lie in the Great Rift Valley but between its main and western branches. The Great Rift Valley ranges in elevation from c.1,300 ft (395 m) below sea level (the Dead Sea) to c.6,000 ft (1,830 m) above sea level in S Kenya. Erosion has concealed some sections, but in places, notably in Kenya, there are sheer cliffs several thousand feet high. The present configuration of the rift, which dates from the mid-Pleistocene epoch, is probably a result of a rifting process associated with thermal currents in the earth's mantle (see rift valley); there is evidence of earlier rift structures.

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Great Rift Valley

 or Rift Valley or East African Rift System

Rift system (see rift valley), extending from Jordan in the Middle East south to Mozambique in southern Africa. It is some 4,000 mi (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 mi (48–64 km) wide. The rift has been forming for some 30 million years, as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula separate, and has produced such massifs as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. The system's main branch, the Eastern Rift Valley, is occupied in the north by the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. It continues south along the Red Sea to several lakes in Kenya. Less obvious in Tanzania, with its eastern rim eroded, it continues south to the Indian Ocean near Beira, Mozam. The western branch of the system, the Western Rift Valley, extends north from the northern end of Lake Malawi in an arc that includes lakes Rukwa, Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward, and Albert.

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Great Rift Valley

the most extensive rift in the earth's surface, extending from the Jordan valley in Syria to Mozambique; marked by a chain of steep-sided lakes, volcanoes, and escarpments