The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by English explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trough, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء The Dead Sea (יָם הַמֶּלַח, "Sea of Salt"البَحْر المَيّت, "Dead Sea" is a salt lake between This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia John Walter Gregory, FRS, ( 27 January 1864 – 2 June 1932) was a British geologist and explorer known The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa East Africa is the Easternmost Region of the African Continent. The name continues in some usages, although it is today considered geologically imprecise as it includes what are today regarded as separate, although related rift and fault systems. Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates. The East African Rift is part of the larger Great Rift Valley. The Afar Triple Junction is a junction of three tectonic Rifts (or ridges centered in the Afar Depression of northeastern Africa. The African Plate is a Tectonic plate which includes the Continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding Geologists generally refer to these incipient plates as the Nubian and Somalian subplates or protoplates.
Contents |
Geography
The Great Rift Valley as originally described by Gregory extends from Lebanon in the north to Mozambique in the south, and constitutes one of two distinct physiographic provinces of the East African Highlands physiographic division. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa "Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Papua New Guinea. The northernmost part of the Rift, today called the Dead Sea Transform or Rift, forms the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon separating the Lebanon Mountains and Anti-Lebanon Mountains. The Dead Sea Transform (DST fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a Geologic fault which extends through the Jordan River Valley Beqaa ( Arabic: البقاع "valley" also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ‘ or Becaa) is a fertile Valley in Mount Lebanon ( Arabic: جبل لبنان as a geographic designation is the Lebanese mountain range known as the Western Mountain Range of Lebanon The Anti-Lebanon mountains, is the Western name for the Eastern Lebanon Mountain Range ( Arabic: جبال لبنان الشرقية)which are a northeast-trending Further south it is known as the Hula Valley separating the Galilee mountains and the Golan Heights. The Hula Valley (עמק החולה Emek HaHula) is an agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water "Galil" redirects here For the weapon see IMI Galil. Galilee (הגליל ha-Galil, lit the province, Borders of Israel The Golan Heights ( الجولان al-Jawlān, הגולן ha-Golan) is a strategic Plateau and mountainous The Jordan River begins here and flows southward through Lake Hula into the Sea of Galilee in Israel, then continues south through the Jordan Valley into the Dead Sea on the Israeli-Jordanian border. This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia The Hula Valley (עמק החולה Emek HaHula) is an agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water The Sea of Galilee, also Sea of Genneseret, Lake Kinneret or Lake Tiberias (Hebrew ים כנרת) (Arabic بحيرة طبريا) For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Great Rift ValleyThe Jordan Rift Valley (الغور Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr) is an elongated depression located in modern-day Israel, Jordan, the The Dead Sea (יָם הַמֶּלַח, "Sea of Salt"البَحْر المَيّت, "Dead Sea" is a salt lake between For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern From the Dead Sea southwards, the Rift is occupied by the Wadi Arabah, then the Gulf of Aqaba, and then the Red Sea. The Arabah (הָעֲרָבָה Tiberian: HāʻĂrāḇā وادي عربة Wādī ʻAraba) is a section of the Great The Gulf of Aqaba ( Arabic: خليج العقبة transliterated: Khalyj al-'Aqabah in Israel known as the Gulf of Eilat ( Hebrew The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. Off the southern tip of Sinai in the Red Sea, the Dead Sea Transform meets the Red Sea Rift which runs the length of the Red Sea. The Red Sea Rift is a spreading center between two Tectonic plates the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. The Red Sea Rift comes ashore to meet the East African Rift and the Aden Ridge in the Afar Depression of East Africa. The East African Rift is part of the larger Great Rift Valley. The Aden Ridge (also Gulf of Aden Ridge) is a divergent Tectonic plate boundary which runs offshore in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean along The Afar Depression (also called the Danakil Depression or the Afar Triangle) is a Geological depression in the Horn of Africa, where it The junction of these three rifts is called the Afar Triple Junction. The Afar Triple Junction is a junction of three tectonic Rifts (or ridges centered in the Afar Depression of northeastern Africa.
In eastern Africa the valley divides into two, the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley.
The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, is edged by some of the highest mountains in Africa, including the Virunga Mountains, Mitumba Mountains, and Ruwenzori Range. The Virunga Mountains are a chain of Volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC The Mitumba Mountain range stretches along the Western Rift Valley in Burundi and Eastern Congo (DRC, west of lake Tanganyika. It contains the Rift Valley lakes, which include some of the deepest lakes in the world (up to 1,470 meters deep at Lake Tanganyika). The Rift Valley lakes are a group of lakes in the Great Rift Valley formed by the East African Rift which runs through the whole eastern side of the African A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the Lake Tanganyika is a large Lake in central Africa (3° 20' to 8° 48' South and from 29° 5' to 31° 15' East Lake Victoria, the second largest area freshwater lake in the world, is considered part of the Rift Valley system although it actually lies between the two branches. Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. All of the African Great Lakes were formed as the result of the rift, and most lie within its rift valley. The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of Lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African
In Kenya the valley is deepest to the north of Nairobi. The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south Nairobi (naɪˈroʊbɪ is the capital and largest city of Kenya. As the lakes in the Eastern Rift have no outlet to the sea and tend to be shallow they have a high mineral content as the evaporation of water leaves the salts behind. A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific For example, Lake Magadi has high concentrations of soda (sodium carbonate) and Lake Elmenteita, Lake Bogoria, and Lake Nakuru are all strongly alkaline, while the freshwater springs supplying Lake Naivasha are essential to support its current biological variety. Lake Magadi is the southermost Lake in the Kenya Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks north east of Lake Natron. Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda or soda ash), is a Sodium Salt of Carbonic acid. Lake Elmenteita, also spelled Elementaita, is a Soda lake, in the eastern limb of East Africa 's Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Lake Bogoria is a saline, Alkaline Lake that lies in a Volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in central Kenya and is protected by a small Lake Nakuru National Lake Naivasha is a Freshwater Lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha.
Discoveries in human evolution
The Rift Valley in East Africa has been a rich source of fossils[1] that allow study of human evolution, especially in an area known as Piedmont. Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological Evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct Species [2]
Because the rapidly eroding highlands have filled the valley with sediments, a favorable environment for the preservation of remains has been created. The bones of several hominid ancestors of modern humans have been found there, including those of "Lucy",[3] a nearly complete australopithecine skeleton, which was discovered by anthropologist Donald Johanson. Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct Hominid which lived between 3 The term australopithecine refers to two very closely related genera within the Hominina subtribe of the Hominini tribe. Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943 in Chicago) is an American paleoanthropologist. Richard and Mary Leakey have also done significant work in this region. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (born 19 December 1944 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a Kenyan politician Mary Leakey ( February 6 1913 &ndash December 9 1996) was a British Archaeologist and Anthropologist, who
More recently, 2 other hominid ancestors have been discovered there: a 10-million-years-old ape called Chororapithecus abyssinicus, found in the Afar rift, in eastern Ethiopia,[4] and the Nakalipithecus nakayamai, who is also 10 million years old. Chororapithecus abyssinicus was an Ape that lived about 10–10 Nakalipithecus nakayamai is a prehistoric Great ape Species that lived in today's Kenya region early in the Late Miocene, 10 [4]
Further reading
- Africa's Great Rift Valley, 2001, ISBN 0810906023
- Tribes of the Great Rift Valley, 2007, ISBN 9780810994119
- East African Rift Valley lakes, 2006, OCLC 76876862
- Photographic atlas of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Rift Valley, 1977, ISBN 0387902473
- Rift Valley fever : an emerging human and animal problem, 1982, ISBN 9241700637
See also
Notes
- ^ Great Rift Valley Ecosystem - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) A graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults Graben is German for ditch. This article refers to the geological form For other uses see Horst. whc. unesco. org. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- ^ Great Rift Valley - Everything on Great Rift Valley (information, latest news, articles,...). www. spiritus-temporis. com. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- ^ Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris - Homepage. www. ethiopianriftvalleysafaris. com. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- ^ a b Seward, Liz. BBC NEWS. news. bbc. co. uk. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
External links
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic