
Rift Valley - Education
Jan 4, 2024 · A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift. Rift valleys are found on land and at the bottom of the ocean, where they are created by …
Continental Drift - Education
Jun 4, 2025 · Rift valleys are sites where a continental landmass is ripping itself apart. Africa, for example, will eventually split along the Great Rift Valley system. What is now a single …
Seafloor Spreading - Education
Nov 29, 2023 · In the Afar Triple Junction, the African, Somali, and Arabian plates are splitting from each other. The Great Rift Valley and Red Sea (a major site of seafloor spreading) are …
In Their Footsteps: Human Migration Out of Africa - Education
Feb 19, 2025 · Gona, in the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, is the earliest known stone tool site. It is littered with artifacts of 2.6-million-year-old tools. The tools found at Gona were crude, sharp …
Plate Tectonics - Education
May 30, 2025 · At divergent boundaries, plates separate, forming a narrow rift valley. Here, geysers spurt superheated water, and magma, or molten rock, rises from the mantle and …
Plate Tectonics and Volcanic Activity - Education
Jun 17, 2025 · The East African Rift is an example of a single tectonic plate being ripped in two. Along the Horn of Africa, the African plate is tearing itself into what is sometimes called the …
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Paleontologist: Dr. Louise Leakey - Education
Oct 23, 2025 · "The rift valley has a major influence in terms of those fossils that we find," she says. "It is because of the tectonic movements forcing these old layers back up to the surface …
Paleontologist: Dr. Meave Leakey - Education
Dec 3, 2024 · "It is a rift valley, so it was a valley," she says. "So there was always a river flowing into it, bringing lots of sediment. That sediment buried anything that was lying on the surface, …
Africa: Physical Geography - Education
Jun 4, 2025 · This dome was later split as Africa’s continental crust pulled apart, creating the Great Rift Valley system. Today, this valley cuts through the Ethiopian Highlands from the …