Great Rift Valley

Great Rift Valley

ETHIOPIA/ KENYA/ MALAWI/ TANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OF

Africa's Great Rift Valley is a 9,656-km long fissure in the earth's crust, stretching from Lebanon to Mozambique. One of its most dramatic sections slices through East Africa, dividing Kenya into two segments. 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. Evidence that this process, called rifting, is still in progress comes from the many active and semi-active volcanoes, located along the Rift. Evidence of volcanic activity along the rift is provided by the presence of numerous boiling hot springs.