Great Rift Valley

Enormous geographical feature caused by the separation of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates around 35m years ago. Named by the explorer [John Walter Gregory]?.

The feature runs from the Dead Sea in Syria to Mozambique over 5000 km. The valley varies in width from 30-100 km and in depth from a few hundred to several thousand metres. In eastern Africa the valley splits into two, the [Eastern Rift]? and the [Western Rift]?.

The Western Rift contains the deepest lakes in the world (up to 560 metres deep) including [Lake Tanganyika]?. [Lake Victoria]?, the second largest lake in the world is considered part of the Rift Valley system.

In Kenya the valley is deepest to the north of Nairobi. As the valley has no outlet to the sea it's lakes tend to be shallow and have a high mineral content as the evaporation of water leaves the salts behind. For example Lake Magadi is almost solid soda (sodium carbonate) and Lake Elmenteita, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, and Lake Nakuru are all strongly alkaline. While Lake Naivasha needs to be supplied by freshwater springs to support it's biological variety.

The formation of the Rift Valley is still continuing. In millions of years time, eastern Africa will split off to form a new landmass. The original activity that caused the Rift weakened the earth's crust. The area is therefore volcanically and seismically active - producing the volcanoes [Mount Kilimanjaro]?, [Mount Kenya]?, [Mount Meru]?, [Mount Elgon]?, and the Crater Highlands in Tanzania.