Mondo Knows Facts
The Great Rift Valley is a continuous trench splitting East Africa
Extending over 6,000 kilometres from the Middle East to Mozambique, the rift is slowly splitting Africa.
Driven by tectonic plate divergence, the African continent is gradually pulling apart into two separate plates. This geological stretching has created deep valleys, active volcanoes like Ol Doinyo Lengai, and deep rift lakes including Lake Tanganyika. Millions of years from now, East Africa may sever to form a new ocean basin.
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More facts like this
Iceland is a landmass where tectonic plates drift apart above sea levelIceland sits directly atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the North American and Eurasian plates diverge.Mount Everest continues to grow taller every yearContinuous tectonic collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates causes Mount Everest to rise by several millimetres annually.The Alps are the highest mountain range situated entirely in EuropeExtending 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries, the range was shaped by tectonic plate collision.The Gambia is built entirely along the winding Gambia RiverSurrounded on three sides by Senegal, The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa.Lake Victoria is the largest tropical lake in the worldCovering nearly 60,000 square kilometres, Lake Victoria is shared by Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.The Nile is the longest river in the worldSpanning over 6,600 kilometres, the Nile flows northwards through eleven African nations before reaching the Mediterranean Sea.
Tags: great rift valley, africa, tectonics, geology
The Great Rift Valley is a continuous trench splitting East Africa: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Extending over 6,000 kilometres from the Middle East to Mozambique, the rift is slowly splitting Africa. The figure is taken from USGS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a world geography fact?
- Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.