memorablemeanders.blogspot.com

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Great Rift Valley, Kenya

The Great Rift Valley taken from the mountain north of Nairobi

Africa's Great Rift Valley is a 6,000-mile crack (fissure) in the earth's crust, stretching from Lebanon to Mozambique. One of its most dramatic sections slices through East Africa, dividing Kenya into two segments. The Rift Valley was formed by violent subterranean forces that tore apart the earth's crust. These forces caused huge chunks of the crust to sink between parallel fault lines and force up molten rock in volcanic eruptions. Evidence that this process, called rifting, is still in progress comes from the many active and semi-active volcanoes, located along the Rift. Volcanic activity along the rift is provided by the presence of numerous boiling hot springs.


If you wish, you can scroll down to my post on Friday and see one of the lakes along this valley.

For more beautiful scenes around the world, click here

7 comments:

  1. Oh, just a tease. Don't cook yourselves in those "hot" springs. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember learning about the rift valley in geography at school. Now I know it for real. that is a great view.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not sure I have ever heard of the Rift Valley before! (Maybe I've just forgotten as I went to school a long, long time ago!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful post and info on the great Rift Valley, Jo! You have a great view and photo.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fascinating place to see the effects of geology!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's looking so beautifully green after the rain. When you first arrived, it all looked so brown! Enjoy the spectacular reawakening of the beautiful bush around you. I wish I were there, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a gorgeous section of the Rift Valley this is, Jo! My guess is that it's gorgeous all along its 6000 miles!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo