About 39,600 results
Open links in new tab
  1. 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 …

  2. 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 …

  3. 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 …

  4. 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 …

  5. 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 …

  6. 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 …

  7. Education | National Geographic Society

    Engage with National Geographic Explorers and transform learning experiences through live events, free maps, videos, interactives, and other resources.

  8. 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 …

  9. 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, …

  10. 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 …