[6] The Davie Ridge ranges between 30–120 km (19–75 mi) wide, with a west-facing scarp (east-plunging arch) along the southern half of its length that rises to 2,300 m (7,500 ft) above the sea floor. Basemap: Space Shuttle radar topography image by NASA. In the East African system, a series of aligned rift valleys separated from each other by large bounding faults can be clearly seen from space. Committees Drift in the region of Eastern Cape is a place located in South Africa - some 519 mi (or 835 km) South of Pretoria, the country's capital. [5], The Rift Valley in East Africa has been a rich source of hominid fossils that allow the study of human evolution. [5] The second stage of rifting is characterized by the deactivation of large boundary faults, the development of internal fault segments, and the concentration of magmatic activity towards the rifts. Online talk: Prof Sir Andy Haines and Prof Chris Dye in Conversation: "Building back healthier: climate change, health and the recovery from Covid-19" Photo courtesy of Fugitives’ Drift. The East African Riftis unique in that it allows us to observe different stages of rifting along its length. In 1972 it was proposed that the EAR was not caused by tectonic activity, but rather by differences in crustal density. Share on Twitter. “Its lava fountains crystallize in midair then shatter like glass” according to the National Geographic. The varying geochemical signatures of a suite of Ethiopian lavas suggest multiple plume sources: at least one of deep mantle origin, and one from within the subcontinental lithosphere. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. They are characterized by greenstone belts, tonalites, and other high-grade metamorphic lithologies. Share via Email. Plate tectonics is a good example of this. According to this theory, lithospheric thinning generates volcanic activity, further increasing magmatic processes such as intrusions and numerous small plumes. The East African Rift Valley stretches over 3,000km from the Gulf of Aden in the north towards Zimbabwe in the south, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the Somali and Nubian plates. Reprinted from Tetrophysics, Vol 513, Oliver Mearle, 'A simple continental rift classification' Copyright (2011), with permission from Elsevier. DriftSouth, Christchurch, New Zealand. Towards the Afar region, however, the entire rift valley floor is covered with volcanic rocks. To the south, where the rift is young, extension rates are low and faulting occurs over a wide area. 74 talking about this. Rifts exhibit a very distinctive topography, characterised by a series of fault-bounded depressions surrounded by higher terrain. Postdoctoral Researcher, Fault Dynamics Research Group, Royal Holloway. May 27, 2014 01:03 PM Share on Facebook. A name that transcends multiple continents, and blurs its own legendary heritage into the veins of the world’s most elite supercars and sports cars of past and present. Rorke’s Drift in South Africa was the site of a famous battle during the Anglo-Zulu Wars in which 139 British soldiers fiercely and successfully defended the area and their garrison against between four and five thousand Zulu Warriors. More recently, two other hominid ancestors have been discovered here: a 10-million-year-old ape called Chororapithecus abyssinicus, found in the Afar rift in eastern Ethiopia, and Nakalipithecus nakayamai, which is also 10 million years old. Dramatic events, such as sudden motorway-splitting faults can give continental rifting a sense of urgency. A 3D numerical geodynamical model of the plume-crust coupling was capable of reproducing the lateral asymmetry of the EAR around the Tanzania craton. Fugitives’ Drift Reserve views. 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