What are the three parts of Ethiopian Rift Valley?
What are the three parts of Ethiopian Rift Valley?
[5] The MER has been traditionally differentiated into three main segments: (1) the Southern, (2) the Central, and (3) the Northern MER [Mohr, 1983; WoldeGabriel et al., 1990; Hayward and Ebinger, 1996] (Figure 2).
Where is the Ethiopian rift valley?
The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, (or Main Ethiopian Rift or Ethiopian Rift Valley) is a branch of the East African Rift that runs through Ethiopia in a southwest direction from the Afar Triple Junction. In the past, it was seen as part of a “Great Rift Valley” that ran from Mozambique to Syria.
Where is Afar Triple Junction?
East Africa
The Afar triple junction (Fig. 1) is located in East Africa connecting three branches of a complex rift system. This area is an example of the last stage of continental rifting and the early stage of seafloor spreading, leading to the creation of oceanic crust (Mohr 1970; Tesfaye et al.
What plate boundary caused East Rift Valley?
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.
How long is the Ethiopian 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.
Why is it called the rift valley?
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics.
Is afar a hotspot?
Abstract. The Ethiopia/Afar hotspot has been frequently explained as an upper mantle continuation of the African superplume, with anomalous material in the lower mantle under southern Africa, rising through the transition zone beneath eastern Africa.
What is in the Afar Triangle?
The Depression overlaps the borders of Eritrea, Djibouti and the entire Afar Region of Ethiopia; and it contains the lowest point in Africa, Lake Assal, Djibouti, at 155 m (or 509 ft) below sea level.
How is rift valley formed?
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.
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 Africa breaking apart?
Summary: The African continent is slowly separating into several large and small tectonic blocks along the diverging East African Rift System, continuing to Madagascar – the long island just off the coast of Southeast Africa – that itself will also break apart into smaller islands.
Is Africa splitting apart?
Scientists say a new ocean is being born. In one of the hottest places on Earth, along an arid stretch of East Africa’s Afar region, it’s possible to stand on the exact spot where, deep underground, the continent is splitting apart. …
Where does the Ethiopian rift begin and end?
The Ethiopian sector of the East African Rift system extends for more than 1000 km in a NE-SW to N-S direction from the Afar depression, at Red Sea-Gulf of Aden junction, southwards to the Turkana depression.
Where are the rifts located in the world?
The typical rift morphology is most typically developed in the Main Ethiopian Rift, a 500km-long sector that from the Afar depression (latitude 9°40’N) reaches the region of lakes Abaya and Chamo (latitude 5°30’N).
What causes the elevation of the Rift Valley?
Local increases in the elevation of the rift valley are generally due to volcanic edifices, as in the northern MER where several volcanoes raise from the flat rift floor. Topographic profiles and 3D digital elevation model of the Ethiopian sector of the rift valley (click for a larger version)
Is the Rift Valley in the Red Sea?
To the north, the rift corresponds to the Afar depression, a wide triangular zone of tectonic collapse in which the rift valley joins the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden oceanic basins.