KAWA MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
Extent of the African Rift Valley.
The southern end of the Red Sea marks a fork in the rift. is the probable location of a triple junction which is possibly underlain by a mantle plume. The Gulf of Aden is an eastward continuation of the rift - before the rift opened, the Arabian Peninsula was attached to the Horn of Africa - and from this point the rift continues as part of the Mid-oceanic ridge of the Indian Ocean. In a southwest direction the fault continues as the Great Rift Valley, which split the older Ethiopian highlands into two halves.
The African rift valley runs from the Red Sea to include the plains of The Afar Triangle or Danakil Depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea through Kenya. In eastern Africa the valley divides into two, the Western Rift and the Eastern Rift Valley.
The African rift valley runs from the Red Sea to include the plains of The Afar Triangle or Danakil Depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea through Kenya. In eastern Africa the valley divides into two, the Western Rift and the Eastern Rift Valley.
The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, is edged 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 (up to 1,470 meters deep at Lake Tanganyika).
Map showing the Extent of the African Rift Valley.
Map showing the Extent of the African Rift Valley.
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.
For example, Lake Magadi has high concentrations of soda (sodium carbonate) and Lake Elmenteita, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, and Lake Nakuru are all strongly alkaline, while the freshwater springs supplying Lake Naivasha are essential to support its current biological variety.
It also disappears at the surface of Lake Natron in Tanzania. It is clearly marked further south as a trench containing Lake Malawi and River Shire valley. This branch is known as the eastern branch of the rift valley.
Another section extends from the Albert Nile to include Lakes Albert and George in Uganda, Kivu and Tanganyika in Tanzania lie in the short branches of the rift valley.
Another branch moves down south wards and includes Luangwa and part of Zambezi valley and it is known as the southern rift valley, which disappears into Mozambique’s coastal area near the Indian Ocean.
The African rift valley is a result of faulting which means the fracturing and tearing of rocks to form fault lines that led to formation of a rift valley and other related features.
A part from a rift valley faulting leads to the formation of other features, which include:
- fault scarp,
- escarpments,
- guided valley and
- tilted block landscape.