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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Plate Tectonics & Structures

Rift valley

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

nounCommon term

In geology & earth sciences, rift valley means: A long valley formed where the crust is stretched and pulled apart, so that a block of land drops down between faults. The East African Rift is a well-known example.

In Turkish: rift vadisi, çöküntü vadisi

How it is used

Used for divergent boundaries on land and the early stages of ocean opening; the Red Sea is a rift that the sea has flooded. Related terms: rifting, rift zone, graben. Western Anatolia's Gediz and Büyük Menderes grabens formed through similar crustal stretching.

Example sentences

  1. The East African Rift Valley may one day split the continent in two.

  2. Deep lakes often form on the floor of a rift valley.

Common collocations

  • the East African Rift Valley
  • rift zone
  • continental rifting
  • rift basin
  • plate boundaryThe zone where two tectonic plates meet. Plates move apart at divergent boundaries, towards each other at convergent boundaries and past each other at transform boundaries.
  • faultA fracture in the Earth's crust along which the rocks on either side have moved. Sudden slip on a fault causes an earthquake.
  • mid-ocean ridgeA long underwater mountain chain where two plates move apart and new oceanic crust forms from rising magma, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
  • tectonic plateOne of the large, rigid pieces of the Earth's lithosphere that move slowly over the mantle, usually by a few centimetres a year.

More terms: Plate Tectonics & Structures

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