What is Albertine Rift valley?

What is Albertine Rift valley?

The Albertine Rift or Africa’s Western Rift Valley is one of the most biodiverse regions of the African continent. It also conserves more threatened and endemic species than any other region of Africa, and as a result is a Biodiversity Hotspot, a Global 200 Ecoregion and an Endemic Bird Area.

How was the East African Rift Valley formed?

Millions of years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was connected to Africa. Seafloor spreading caused the Arabian and African plates to rift apart. The Indian Ocean flooded the rift valley between the continents, creating the Red Sea. Today, Africa and Asia are connected by the triangle of the Sinai Peninsula.

What processes are going on in the Great Rift Valley in Africa?

A narrow zone, the rift is a developing divergent tectonic plate boundary where the African Plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates, called the Somali Plate and the Nubian Plate, at a rate of 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) per year.

What are three bodies of water that occupy the Great Rift Valley north of Africa?

Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi are sometimes collectively known as the African Great Lakes. The Western Rift Valley lakes are fresh water and home to an extraordinary number of species.

Where is Albertine rift?

The Albertine Rift encompasses the Great Lakes of central Africa, stretching from the northern tip of Lake Albert to the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika. The Rift is located within six countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

What is the rift?

In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Major rifts occur along the central axis of most mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust and lithosphere is created along a divergent boundary between two tectonic plates.

How old is the African rift valley?

Site of some of the oldest hominid fossils, The Great Rift Valley in East Africa refers to a massive land depression, formed approximately twenty million years ago when two parallel fault lines pulled apart.

How is the rift valley formed?

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. Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean.

What are the mountains in the Albertine Rift?

The northern part of the rift is crossed by two large mountain ranges, the Rwenzori Mountains between Lake Albert and Lake Rutanzige (formerly Lake Edward) and the Virunga Mountains between Lake Rutanziga and Lake Kivu. The Virungas form a barrier between the Nile Basin to the north and east and the Congo Basin to the west and south.

Are there any civil wars in the Albertine Rift?

It has been a region of great conflict over the past 40 years with civil wars in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Only Tanzania has escaped this conflict in the Albertine Rift.

What is the name of the Rift Valley in East Africa?

East African Rift Valley. East Africa with active volcanoes (red triangles) and the Afar Triangle (shaded, center)—a triple junction where three plates are pulling away from one another. The East African rift has two branches, the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley.

Which is the only country that has escaped the Albertine Rift?

Only Tanzania has escaped this conflict in the Albertine Rift. This juxtaposition of high human population density, high levels of poverty, conflict and high biodiversity means that there are many challenges for conservation in the region.

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