The East African Rift Valley (EAR) is a developing divergent plate boundary in East Africa. Here the eastern portion of Africa, the Somalian plate, is pulling away from the rest of the continent, that comprises the Nubian plate.
What type of plate boundary exists along the East African Rift?
A narrow zone, the rift is a developing divergent tectonic plate boundary where the African Plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates, called the Somali Plate and the Nubian Plate, at a rate of 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) per year.
Is the East African Rift An example of a divergent plate boundary?
The East African Rift Valley is an example of a divergent boundary in an area of continental crust. It is one the geologic wonders of the world, a place where the earth’s tectonic forces are presently trying to create new plates by splitting apart old ones.
What type of plate boundary is the Great 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.Is the Great Rift Valley a divergent plate boundary?
Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates.
Is the East Pacific Rise a divergent plate boundary?
The East Pacific Rise is a “divergent” plate boundary, where huge slabs of the Earth’s crust (plates) are moving away from each other.
Is a rift valley convergent or divergent?
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.
Is the East African Rift a mid ocean ridge?
If the process continues long enough and the continental crust is effectively separated, the continental rift graben turns into a normal mid-oceanic ridge. … The most prominent example of a continental rift is the East-African Rift Valley and its continuations into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.Where is the East African Great Rift Valley?
East African Rift System, also called Afro-Arabian Rift Valley, one of the most extensive rifts on Earth’s surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The system is some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 miles (48–64 km) wide.
How was East African Rift Valley formed?Twenty-five million years ago, as plate tectonics began to pull apart eastern Africa, the landscape that would eventually be home to the first humans began to take shape. … The East African Rift Valley, as the region is known, formed where the Somalian and Nubian plates are pulling away from the Arabian Plate.
Article first time published onWhat type of plate boundary is the Mariana Trench?
In the case of a convergent boundary between two oceanic plates, one is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. “The Marianas Trench (paralleling the Mariana Islands), for example, marks where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate.
What are the three types of convergent boundaries?
Convergent boundaries , where two plates are moving toward each other, are of three types, depending on the type of crust present on either side of the boundary — oceanic or continental . The types are ocean-ocean, ocean-continent, and continent-continent.
What is an example of a rift valley?
The East African Rift, the Baikal Rift Valley, the West Antarctic Rift, and the Rio Grande Rift are Earth’s major active continental rift valleys. … The Baikal Rift Valley (sometimes called the Baikal Rift Zone) cuts through 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of Siberia, in eastern Russia.
How do rift valleys form at divergent boundaries?
Divergent Boundaries The sinking of the block forms a central valley called a rift. Magma (liquid rock) seeps upward to fill the cracks. In this way, new crust is formed along the boundary. Earthquakes occur along the faults, and volcanoes form where the magma reaches the surface.
What is rift Valley in geography Upsc?
Rift Valleys A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift. Rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean and are created by the process of seafloor spreading.
What is the type of plate boundary that occurs between the African plate and the Arabian plate?
The type of tectonic plate boundary that occurs between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate is a divergent plate boundary. As the African Plate and the Arabian Plate move in opposite directions, they create a large rift between them.
What is a rift boundary?
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. … Major rifts occur along the central axis of most mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust and lithosphere is created along a divergent boundary between two tectonic plates.
What is the East African Rift is an example of?
Continental rifting requires the existence of extensional forces great enough to break the lithosphere. The East African Rift is described as an active type of rift, in which the source of these stresses lies in the circulation of the underlying mantle.
What are types of plate boundaries?
For example, sections of Earth’s crust can come together and collide (a “convergent” plate boundary), spread apart (a “divergent” plate boundary), or slide past one another (a “transform” plate boundary). Each of these types of plate boundaries is associated with different geological features.
What two plates formed the East Pacific Rise?
The East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean ridge that runs through the eastern Pacific Ocean and separates the Pacific plate from the North American plate, the Cocos plate, the Nazca plate, and the Antarctic plate.
What plates border the East Pacific ridge?
The East Pacific Rise is a mid-oceanic ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Pacific Plate to the west from (north to south) the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, the Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic Plate.
What is the East Pacific Rise made of?
Its structure is largely of igneous crust, overlain or abutted by generally flat-lying sediments. It rises from approximately 6,000 to 9,000 feet (1,800 to 2,700 metres) above the surrounding seafloor and is extensively fractured by faults mostly occurring at intervals of roughly 200 miles (320 km).
What tectonic plate is Ethiopia on?
The Afar region in Northern Ethiopia is the centre of a “Y” shaped rift system, where the continental lithosphere is being stretched and is splitting. The Arabian Plate is rifting away from the African plate along an active divergent ridge system, to form the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
How does the East African Rift relate to plate tectonics?
How does the East African Rift relate to plate tectonics? The rift lies on a continental rift where two plates are diverging.
How is a rift valley formed give one example of a rift valley?
A rift valley is formed by the submergence of a big landmass between two high block mountains, e.g. the Rhine river flows through a rift valley in its middle course.
What type of plate boundary is the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submerged mountain range, which extends from the Arctic Ocean to beyond the southern tip of Africa, is but one segment of the global mid-ocean ridge system that encircles the Earth.
Is convergent boundary?
A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. … Convergent boundaries occur between oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, oceanic-continental lithosphere, and continental-continental lithosphere.
What is the difference between a rift Valley and mid-ocean ridge?
Continental rift zones occur in weak spots in the continental lithospheric plate. A mid-ocean ridge usually originates in a continental plate as a rift zone that expands to the point of splitting the plate apart, with seawater filling in the gap.
What is a distinguishing feature of the eastern Rift Valley of East Africa?
The East African rift system is marked by substantial volcanic activity, including lavas erupted from fissures along the rift in the region. Much of the faulting observed in this image cuts through such lavas. Elsewhere along the rift system, individual volcanoes form.
What geological phenomenon has created the rift valleys of East Africa what physical geographic features are found here?
Mountain ranges, volcanic peaks, and large lakes are found in or along the rift valleys of eastern Africa. The rift valleys were created by tectonic activity.
Is Mariana Trench convergent boundary?
Some of the most familiar ocean trenches are the result of this type of convergent plate boundary. … The Mariana Trench, in the South Pacific Ocean, is formed as the mighty Pacific plate subducts beneath the smaller, less-dense Philippine plate.
