What is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important? - Our Planet Today (2024)

on April 2, 2022

Geology and Geography

The Rift Valley has been a rich source of fossils that allow study of human evolution, especially in an area known as Piedmont. Because the rapidly eroding highlands have filled the valley with sediments, a favourable environment for the preservation of remains has been created.

Contents:

Where is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important?

The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa. Astronauts say it is the most significant physical detail on the planet that is visible from space.

Why is the Great Rift Valley important?

The system of rift valleys that characterizes the African continent represents a perfect environment to understand the evolution of mankind; for the important paleoanthropological discoveries in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire, the African rift valleys are indeed considered the “cradle of mankind”, that is …

What is the Great Rift Valley and how was it formed?

It was formed by the Thingvellir rift, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are tearing, or rifting, apart over a hotspot on the island of Iceland. A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift.

Is crack in Africa?

https://youtu.be/
The crack stretches along Kenya's Great Rift Valley. And many scientists believe it could end up splitting the continent apart Debora patta tracking developments from Johannesburg South Africa.

How old is the Great Rift Valley?

30 million years old

It is 30 million years old and exhibits extensive volcanism, having produced Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. The Great Rift Valley is a series of connected rift valleys.

What is the Great Rift Valley and where is it located?

The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa.

Where is the great rift valley situated?

Eastern Africa

The Rift Valley, located in Eastern Africa, covers just over 2% of the continent and spreads over seven countries (Map 5 and Table 29). min. max. The Rift Valley consists of a group of independent interior basins, extending from Djibouti in the north to Tanzania in the south, nearly half being located in Ethiopia.

What is the largest rift valley in the world?

The longest rift on Earth’s surface, the Great Rift Valley is a long, deep depression with steep, wall-like cliffs, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through Africa to Mozambique.

Where is the Great Rift Valley located which lakes are part of the Great Rift Valley?

From north to south, the names of these lakes are Lake Turkana, Lake Logipi, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, Lake Nakuru, Lake Elmenteita, Lake Naivasha, and Lake Magadi.

Lakes.


UNESCO World Heritage Site
Lake Bogoria, one of the main lakes in the Great Rift Valley.
LocationRift Valley Province, Kenya

What Causes Rift Valley?

A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift. 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, where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading.

What caused the Rift Valley in Kenya?

The East African Rift is one of the great tectonic features of Africa, caused by fracturing of the Earth’s crust.

Why are lakes important in Africa?

The African Great Lakes support beneficial uses including hydroelectric power, inland water transport, industries, tourism, wildlife, and fishery sectors (Bootsma and Hecky, 1993; Ogutu-Ohwayo et al., 1997).

How does the Great Rift Valley affect animals?

The alkaline nature of the lakes in the Rift Valley creates a thriving hub for algae and small crustaceans, which brings huge flocks of greater and lesser flamingos to the area to feed. Occasionally, the powerful beating wings of a fish eagle can be heard as it swoops in to prey on our long-legged friends.

Is lake Albert part of Great Rift Valley?

Western or Albertine Rift Valley lakes

The lakes of the Western or Albertine Rift, with Lake Victoria, include the largest, deepest, and oldest of the Rift Valley Lakes. They are also referred to as the Central African lakes. Lakes Albert, Victoria, and Edward are part of the Nile River basin.


What country is Lake Victoria in?

Lake Victoria, also called Victoria Nyanza, largest lake in Africa and chief reservoir of the Nile, lying mainly in Tanzania and Uganda but bordering on Kenya. Its area is 26,828 square miles (69,484 square km).

What is deepest lake in the world?

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal (5,315 feet [1,620 meters])

Lake Baikal, Russia. Lake Baikal, in Siberia, holds the distinction of being both the deepest lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake, holding more than 20% of the unfrozen fresh water on the surface of Earth.

Does Lake Victoria have sharks?

Victoria, with its 2500 kilometres of coastline in a country that has 170 types of sharks, may feel like the ideal setting for a shark attack.


Where is the world’s oldest lake?

Siberia

Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake, curves for nearly 400 miles through south-eastern Siberia, north of the Mongolian border.

What is the coldest lake in the world?

For comparison, the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior) is only 25% as deep, with a maximum depth of 1,333ft (406m). Lake Baikal is unique in a number of other ways too. It is the world’s oldest, coldest lake, and around 80% of its animal species are endemic (not found anywhere else).

What are ice rings?

The answer: The rings are caused by warm, circular currents of water under the ice, called eddies. The eddies’ strong currents melt the ice at the edge, but weaker ones keep the center frozen.

Where is the deepest body of water in the world?

The average depth of the ocean is about 3,688 meters (12,100 feet). The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.


How big is a ocean?

Oceanic divisions

#OceanArea (km2)
1Pacific Ocean168,723,000 (46.6%)
2Atlantic Ocean85,133,000 (23.5%)
3Indian Ocean70,560,000 (19.5%)
4Southern Ocean21,960,000 (6.1%)

Which ocean is coldest?

The Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest, shallowest, and coldest part of the ocean.

What lives in Mariana Trench?

What Lives In The Deepest Part of the Ocean? 7 Incredible Mariana Trench Animals

  • Barreleye Fish.
  • Benthocodon.
  • Comb jellies.
  • Deep-sea dragonfish.
  • Deep-sea hatchetfish.
  • Dumbo Octopus.
  • Frilled Shark.

Is there a dragon fish?

dragonfish, also called sea moth, any of about five species of small marine fishes comprising the family Pegasidae and the order Pegasiformes. Dragonfish are found in warm Indo-Pacific waters. They are small (to about 16 centimetres [6 1/2 inches] long), elongated fish encased in bony rings of armour.

What is the scariest sea creature?

The Scariest Monsters of the Deep Sea

  • Red Octopus (Stauroteuthis syrtensis) …
  • Deep sea blob sculpin (Psychrolutes phrictus) …
  • Sea Pigs (genus Scotoplanes) …
  • The Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) …
  • The Proboscis Worm (Parborlasia corrugatus) …
  • Zombie Worms (Osedax roseus) …
  • Stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa)

Is there a monster in the Mariana Trench?

Despite its immense distance from everywhere else, life seems to be abundant in the Trench. Recent expeditions have found myriad creatures living out their lives at the bottom of the sea-floor. Xenophyophores, amphipods, and holothurians (not the names of alien species, I promise) all call the trench home.

Is the Megalodon still alive?

Megalodon is NOT alive today, it went extinct around 3.5 million years ago. Go to the Megalodon Shark Page to learn the real facts about the largest shark to ever live, including the actual research about it’s extinction.

Are there real sea monsters?

Hundreds of years ago, European sailors told of a sea monster called the kraken that could toss ships into the air with its many long arms. Today we know sea monsters aren’t real–but a living sea animal, the giant squid, has 10 arms and can grow longer than a school bus.

What is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important? - Our Planet Today (2024)

FAQs

What is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important? - Our Planet Today? ›

The Great Rift Valley is a fault line or crack in Earth's surface that runs along part of East Africa. The valley is part of a larger feature called the East African Rift System

East African Rift System
The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. It was formerly considered to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Asia Minor.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › East_African_Rift
. In geological phenomena, the East African Rift stands out as one of the most intriguing and significant.

What is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important? ›

The Great Rift Valley is the well known rift valley in the world. It stretches from the Middle East in the north to Mozambique in the south. Importance of the Great Rift Valley: It is well known for volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and frequent earthquakes.

What is a rift valley simple definition? ›

A rift valley can simply be characterized as a flat, low-lying valley that forms at a geographical crack or separation. Rift valleys form when tectonics plates beneath the Earth's surface diverge (or move away from one another in opposite directions).

How is the Great Rift Valley important in human evolution? ›

The great Rift Valley that runs through Ethiopia has played a pivotal role in human evolution. It is both the location of the earliest fossils of anatomically modern humans and, later, become an important route for human migrations 'out of Africa'.

What is the Great Rift Valley for kids? ›

The longest rift on Earth's surface, the Great Rift Valley is a long, deep depression with steep, wall-like cliffs, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through Africa to Mozambique.

What is economic importance of Rift Valley? ›

The Rift valley is also used for animal rearing e.g. Masai pastoralists and the Turkana of Northern Kenya. Transport especially water transport on Rift valley lakes e.g. kazinga channel connects Lake George to Lake Edward. Hunting especially in the National parks found within the Rift valley.

Which is the Great Rift Valley in world? ›

The Great Rift Valley or East African Rift is a continuous geographical trench, about 6,440 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 is rift valley short paragraph? ›

A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics.

How do rift valleys affect humans? ›

The Rift Valley is a large, deep valley that was formed by the movement of tectonic plates. The Rift Valley is home to a number of volcanoes, which have played a significant role in human activity. The region's volcanoes have provided humans with a source of heat and energy, and have also been a source of danger.

What is the best example of a rift valley? ›

Examples of rift valleys:

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 East African Rift is part of the “Great Rift Valley” system. Further Reading: Major Landforms of the Earth.

Is the Great Rift Valley still growing? ›

Evidence of the Split

To put it into perspective, currently, the plates are diverging at an average rate of 0.2 inches (7 millimeters) per year. While the rift is currently above sea level, over time, it will widen and the crust will thin and sink.

What is the role of rift valley? ›

The rift valleys are enormous fractures affecting the continental plates that widen progressively with time: they represent the first stages in the complex process of extension and rupture of continents and anticipate the development of new oceanic basins between them.

Why is the Rift Valley important to tourism? ›

Great rift valley consists of the major three exceptional water bodies that are such attractive to the most of the tourists in the country and these includes Lake Nakuru known for its pink flamingos, Lake Elementaita, Lake Naivasha is known as the highest lake among the rift valley lakes in the country, on safari to ...

Where is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important? ›

The most well-known rift valley on Earth is probably the so-called "Great Rift Valley System," which stretches from the Middle East in the north to Mozambique in the south. The area is geologically active, and features volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and frequent earthquakes.

Why are the rift valley lakes important? ›

The lakes are important habitats for a number of fish and amphibian species, abundant birdlife and numerous crocodiles. In the surrounding lake region, one finds elephants, gorillas, hippos and other wildlife in the Great Rift's mountains and valleys.

How old is the Great Rift? ›

“The Rift Valley in East Africa 2 million years ago was an area of massive lava flow and volcanism. Many places may have looked like the Big Island of Hawaii or Yellowstone today,” he says.

What is the reason for rift valley? ›

rift valley, any elongated trough formed by the subsidence of a segment of the Earth's crust between dip-slip, or normal, faults. Such a fault is a fracture in the terrestrial surface in which the rock material on the upper side of the fault plane has been displaced downward relative to the rock below the fault.

Why is the Jordan rift valley important? ›

Early humans. Genetic studies indicate that during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, the Levantine corridor, of which the Jordan Valley is one part, was more important for bi-directional human migrations between Africa and Eurasia than was the Horn of Africa.

Why is the rift valley important to tourism? ›

Great rift valley consists of the major three exceptional water bodies that are such attractive to the most of the tourists in the country and these includes Lake Nakuru known for its pink flamingos, Lake Elementaita, Lake Naivasha is known as the highest lake among the rift valley lakes in the country, on safari to ...

Why is the Great Rift Valley seen as the cradle of humankind? ›

The name Cradle of Humankind reflects the fact that the site has produced a substantially large number of hominin fossils, some of the oldest yet found, dating as far back as 3.5 million years ago.

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