Great Rift Valley Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in Asia to Mozambique in Southeastern Africa. The name continues in some usages, although it is today considered geologically imprecise as it combines features that 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
Andean Volcanic Belt the Norte Chico region since the late Miocene. The southern end of the SVZ is marked by the Chile Triple Junction where the Chile Rise subducts under South America at the Taitao Peninsula giving origin to the "Patagonian Volcanic Gap". Further south lies the Austral Volcanic Zone. From north to south the Southern Volcanic Zone is divided into four segments according to the characteristics of the continental crust, volcanoes and volcanic rocks: In Central Southern Volcanic Zone and Southern Southern Volcanic Zone magma ascent occur primarily by the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault. During the Pliocene the SVZ south of 38°S consisted of