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Is the Great Rift Valley a convergent boundary?
Areas where plates are colliding form convergent boundaries, and areas where plates are expanding create divergent boundaries. Rift valleys are formed by divergent boundaries that involve continental plates.
What is the boundary of Rift Valley?
Many rift valleys are part of “triple junctions,” a type of divergent boundary where three tectonic plates meet at about 120° angles. Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean.
What was the Great Rift Valley in Africa formed by?
Geologists know that the Rift Valley was formed by violent subterranean forces that tore apart the earth’s crust. These forces caused huge chunks of the crust to sink between parallel fault lines and force up molten rock in volcanic eruptions.
What kind of plate boundaries does Africa have?
The African plate is bounded by divergent boundaries, where the plates are moving apart, and convergent boundaries, where the plates are colliding.
Is the Great Rift Valley of East Africa a divergent plate boundary?
The East African Rift Valley (EAR) is a developing divergent plate boundary in East Africa. The Nubian and Somalian plates are also separating from the Arabian plate in the north, thus creating a ‘Y’ shaped rifting system. These plates intersect in the Afar region of Ethiopia at what is known as a ‘triple junction’.
What kind of boundary is the Himalayas?
convergent plate boundary
When two continental plates converge, they smash together and create mountains. The amazing Himalaya Mountains are the result of this type of convergent plate boundary.
Is African plate divergent or convergent?
Boundaries. The western edge of the African Plate is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate to the north and the South American Plate to the south which forms the central and southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Is the African plate oceanic or continental plate?
The African Plate is both oceanic and continental. It has the whole African continent on top of it as well as the oceanic crust of the Atlantic Ocean….
What are facts about the Great Rift Valley?
The Great Rift Valley is a name given to the continuous geographical trench, about 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa. The rift is bordered by a series of mountains and active volcanoes.
What are the physical features of the Great Rift Valley?
East African Rift. The East African Rift System extends south from the Red Sea through Ethiopia,in the south of which it splits into two branches.
Where is the Great Rift System located?
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia.
Where is the Rift Valley in Africa?
Map of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) in total length, that runs from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in southeastern Africa.