In the foregoing chapter it was demonstrated that plates are caused to move because of convective currents as if they were being dragged fey a conveyor belt where plates move or pull away from each other, breaks or fractures occur in the earth's crust Such breaks or fractures are called faults. Where plates are converging or moving towards each other, the sediments between them are subjected to very great pressure and they are folded. In the former case where plates pull apart the forces behind pulling apart are known as tensional forces, where as in the later case, the forces behind coming together of plates are known as compressional forces.

In this chapter therefore, attempts will be made to explain how both tensional and compressional forces bring about faulted landscapes in East Africa. It is however, important to note that since folded landscapes are not conspicuous except for Kabale in Uganda, where unsymmetrical folds exist, no serious attention shall be focused on this theme i.e. folding.