East African Rift

E38213

continental rift geological structure tectonic plate boundary

The East African Rift is a major tectonic rift system in eastern Africa where the African Plate is splitting into separate plates, creating a chain of rift valleys, volcanoes, and lakes.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (20)

Surface form	Occurrences
East African Rift system	9
Great Rift Valley	8
East African Rift System	5
East African Rift Valley	3
Eastern Rift mountains	2
Afar plume	1
East Africa Rift System	1
East African Plateau	1
East African Rift development	1
East African Rift northern extension in the Red Sea region	1
East African Rift region	1
Eastern Rift	1
Eastern Rift Mountains	1
Great Rift Valley (northern section)	1
Great Rift Valley system	1
Kenya Rift	1
Main Ethiopian Rift	1
Syrian-African Rift	1
Tanzania Rift	1
Western Rift	1

Statements (68)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	continental rift ⓘ geological structure ⓘ tectonic plate boundary ⓘ
activityStatus	active ⓘ
approximateLength	over 3000 kilometers ⓘ
associatedWith	African Great Lakes ⓘ surface form: East African Rift Valley lakes Great Rift Valley system (wider geological context) ⓘ surface form: Great Rift Valley
causes	crustal extension ⓘ earthquakes ⓘ normal faulting ⓘ volcanism ⓘ
contains	Afar Triangle ⓘ surface form: Afar Depression Albertine Rift ⓘ Erta Ale ⓘ surface form: Dabbahu Volcano East African Rift self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Eastern Rift Erta Ale ⓘ Gregory Rift ⓘ East African Rift self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Kenya Rift Lake Albert ⓘ Lake Edward ⓘ Lake Kivu ⓘ Lake Magadi ⓘ Lake Malawi ⓘ Lake Manyara National Park ⓘ surface form: Lake Manyara Lake Natron ⓘ Lake Tanganyika ⓘ Lake Turkana ⓘ Afar Triangle ⓘ surface form: Main Ethiopian Rift Malawi Rift ⓘ Mount Elgon ⓘ Mount Kenya ⓘ Mount Kilimanjaro ⓘ Mount Meru ⓘ Nyamuragira ⓘ Nyiragongo ⓘ Ol Doinyo Lengai ⓘ East African Rift self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Tanzania Rift East African Rift self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Western Rift
continent	Africa ⓘ
drivenBy	Ethiopian Traps volcanism ⓘ surface form: African superplume mantle upwelling ⓘ
evolutionTrend	may evolve into new ocean basin ⓘ
extendsFrom	Afar Triangle ⓘ surface form: Afar Triple Junction
extendsTo	Mozambique ⓘ
geologicalAge	Cenozoic ⓘ
influences	hydrology of East Africa ⓘ regional climate ⓘ regional topography ⓘ
knownFor	abundant volcanoes ⓘ chain of rift valleys ⓘ deep lakes ⓘ
locatedIn	East Africa ⓘ surface form: eastern Africa
partOf	African Plate ⓘ East African Rift self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: East Africa Rift System
passesThrough	Burundi ⓘ Djibouti ⓘ Eritrea ⓘ Ethiopia ⓘ Kenya ⓘ Malawi ⓘ Mozambique ⓘ Rwanda ⓘ Tanzania ⓘ Uganda ⓘ
process	continental rifting ⓘ
separates	African Plate ⓘ surface form: Nubian Plate Somali Plate ⓘ
tectonicSetting	divergent plate boundary ⓘ

Referenced by (53)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Somali Plate → riftSystem → East African Rift ⓘ

this entity surface form: East African Rift System

Congo River → sourceRegion → East African Rift ⓘ

Ethiopian Highlands → traversedBy → East African Rift ⓘ

this entity surface form: Great Rift Valley