Talk:Great Rift Valley

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Contents

[edit] I don't think

I don't think is specific enough I'v heard of Jordan-Red Sea Rift or fault and of Great rift valley, separate entites for all i know. Maybe there's some neq evidence.

I learned about the Great Rift at school in the 50's but I never knew it extended North past Ethiopia. The Salelite image makes me wonder if we knew that 50 years ago and how much of a role satelite imagery has played in defining this natural wonder. Anyone got any comments?

[edit] Not enough

Not enough information!!-i agree-

[edit] Piedmont?

The Rift Valley has been a rich source of anthropological discovery, especially in Piedmont

What Piedmont is this? --Joy [shallot] 13:44, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Danakil Depression

I would assume that the Danakil depression in Ethiopia and Eritrea is part of this geological complex. However, Wikipedia somehow omits any findable mention of this region. -- llywrch 06:44, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

East Africa is being torn apart at the rift, which is deepening and widening with (Geologic time, not Human/Life) time. Eventually, ocean waters will rush in to form a new gulf as Somalia breaks away from Africa.

I didn't know that is happening. Anybody with any information on how fast the above process is happening and approximate time of the flooding? gathima 17:50, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Running

The specific geographical and cultural conditions of the Rift Valley have produced most of the world's best distance runners. Does this fit with this article? ManfredLong 11:01, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

What is the evidence that the great Ethiopian, Kenyan and Tanzanian long-distance runners come from the rift valley rather than, say, the mountainous regions of their countries? Rexparry sydney 04:37, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Southern Rift valley

The article lacks any information on the section from Lake Rukwa to the Zambezi, can anyone add this. Rexparry sydney 04:39, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Jordan-Dead Sea graben photo - Why ?

Why is there a photograph of the Jordan-Dead Sea graben when the article is about the Great Rift Valley and the Jordan-Dead Sea graben is not part of that, even though it is a result of the plate tectonic movement in the over-all area? --Bejnar (talk) 20:05, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

At the risk of stating the obvious, the article says that the Dead Sea area is part of the Great Rift Valley. Dragons flight (talk) 20:12, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Jordan Rift Valley

  • The Jordan Rift Valley is not an extension of the Great Rift Valley. The Greta Rift Valley is formed by the Arabian plate and the African plate pulling apart. The Jordan Rift Valley with the East Anatolian faults is where the adjacent plates grind past each other. See Horowitz, Aharon (2001) The Jordan Rift Valley A.A. Balkema, Lisse, ISBN 90-5809-351-4, and "Tectonics of the Arabian Plate" NASA. --Bejnar (talk) 20:23, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
In my opinion, some of the discrepancy is in the nomenclature - certainly, the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley and the Red Sea are not literally part of Africa's Great Rift Valley. However, they are all part of the East Africa Rift System - East African Rift redirects to this article, Great Rift Valley. And to me it would be totally irrelevant and highly semantic and conventional to exclude the Dead Sea area from the East African Rift System because of the geographical curiosity that the Dead Sea is in Asia rather than Africa. Their intimate interrelation justifies, in my opinion, lumping them together. Just my 2 cents (US). Cheers Geologyguy (talk) 20:44, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
Then I guess that my beef is that the article does not make that clear, and that the better title would be "East Africa Rift System". But I guess that the decision on title is already well made. Is that true? --Bejnar (talk) 21:25, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
It does appear that the redirect has been in place since 11 June 2005. Great Rift Valley (231,000 google hits) is likely more common in terms of popular knowledge, whereas East Africa Rift (5,140 hits) is more of a technical, geological name. Personally I don't care much given our ability to break sub-articles out and make redirects and links, though I certainly see your point, and agree that strictly speaking, "Great Rift Valley" would not include the Dead Sea-Jordan River system, nor the Red Sea, nor the Gulf of Aden, while "East Africa Rift System" would. Shall we wait for other comments? Cheers Geologyguy (talk) 21:36, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
Actually if you search on East African Rift you get a lot more hits on google (119,000). My view is that the East African Rift should refer to the rift that passes through the eastern part of Africa rather than involving the Red Sea and the dominantly transform boundary that goes through the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley. The same is just as true for anything titled Great rift valley IMO. Mikenorton 15:44, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
I propose to edit this article now to correct the erroneous notion that the name "Great Rift Valley" applies to the Red Sea Rift and the Dead Sea Rift/Transform zone. These are not in any way, geologically or geographically, the same. The distinction arises fundamentally because the Afar Triple Junction is a Y-type, thus all the "legs" of it are independent, unlike say, for example, a T-type where two of the legs are a continuous rift (as say at the Azores Triple Junction). Moreover, the Red Sea Rift has a name, as does the Dead Sea Rift (or Transform depending on the hypothesis). Let me add that none of my National Geograohic maps show the Great Rift Valley as being anywhere but in East Africa. I believe the broader usage is an archaic observation from the 19th century. Tmangray (talk) 22:39, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
African geography and geology on Wikipedia tend to be corrupted under "geography" where they exist at all. I'm not certain this article was intended to be about the geological feature (although the title applies less to the geographical feature if its as broad as described) due to undefined scope. This is probably just due to a shortage of writes on African articles, or maybe geological articles.
The Afar Triple Junction article is a single sentence. Good luck, but I do hope you take time to work on the Triple Junction, also. It makes it harder when the starting point is in such a sorry state. --Blechnic (talk) 03:29, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Map

I wish there were a map outlining the specific rift valleys under discussion. I find the photos and the text confusing as I am not that familiar with the geology of that part of the world but would like to be. Sincerely, –Mattisse (Talk) 16:46, 6 May 2008 (UTC)