What is the Great Rift Valley?

The Great Rift Valley is a major geological feature created as the African tectonic plate is slowly splitting into smaller plates. It includes a chain of rift valleys, volcanoes, lakes, and fault systems extending from the Red Sea region through countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. The valley is not a single trench but a broad zone of crustal stretching and fracturing. Its tectonic activity has produced dramatic landscapes, fertile volcanic soils, and many important fossil sites. In a geological sense, it is an active continent-building and continent-splitting region.