Rift Valley

Rift Valley or Great Rift Valley, depression, extending more than 4,830 km (3,000 mi) from Syria in south-western Asia to Mozambique in south-eastern Africa. The valley is believed to have been formed by the sinking and tearing apart of the Earth's crust along a 50-million-year-old zone of weakness (see Plate Tectonics).

Elevations of the Rift Valley vary from 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level at the shore of the Dead Sea to about 1,829 m (6,000 ft) above sea level in Kenya. The width of the valley ranges from a few miles to more than 160 km (100 mi). In eastern Africa, the valley separates into two branches: the Eastern Rift and the Western Rift. In the latter is Lake Tanganyika, one of the largest lakes of the continent. Other bodies of water within the Rift Valley include Lake Tiberias, the Jordan River, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Aden. The fault in which the Rift sits is still moving: the western side of the rift is pulling away from the eastern ridge at about 6 mm per year, while in the south it is moving together at a rate of 2 mm per year.