the east african rift valleys are good examples of transform fault plate boundary.
the east african rift valleys are good examples of transform fault plate boundary.
the east african rift valleys are good examples of what type of plate boundary?
transform fault
a rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. a rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary, a crustal extension or spreading apart of the surface, which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion. when the tensional forces are strong enough to cause the plate to split apart, a center block drops between the two blocks at its flanks, forming a graben. the drop of the center creates the nearly parallel steeply dipping walls of a rift valley when it is new. that feature is the beginning of the rift valley, but as the process continues, the valley widens, until it becomes a large basin that fills with sediment from the rift walls and the surrounding area. one of the best known examples of this process is the east african rift. on earth, rifts can occur at all elevations, from the sea floor to plateaus and mountain ranges in continental crust or in oceanic crust. they are often associated with a number of adjoining subsidiary or co-extensive valleys, which are typically considered part of the principal rift valley geologically.
rift valley
the earthquake occurred in the western rift of the east african rift system. the east african rift system is a diffuse, approximately 3000-km-long, zone of crustal extension that passes through eastern africa from djibouti and eritrea on the north to malawi on the south and that constitutes the boundary between the africa plate on the west and the somalia plate on the east. at the earthquake's latitude, the africa and somalia plates are spreading apart at a rate of about four millimeters per year. the earthquake occurred near lake kivu, the basin of which was created by normal faulting similar to that which produced the february 3 earthquake. the largest earthquake to have occurred in the rift system since 1900 had a magnitude of about 7.6. the epicenter of the february 3, 2008, earthquake is within several tens of kilometres (miles) of the epicenter of a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that killed two people in goma in october 2002. earthquakes within the east african rift system occur as the result of both normal faulting and strike-slip faulting.
2008 lake kivu earthquake