Editing Great Rift Valley (section)

==Africa==
{{Main|East African Rift}}
[[File:Great Rift Valley.png|thumb|East African Rift Valley]]
[[File:EAfrica.png|thumb|right|East Africa with active [[volcano]]es (red triangles) and the [[Afar Triangle]] (shaded, center)—a [[triple junction]] where three plates are pulling away from one another.|300x300px]] 
[[File:Cool_lava_in_Africa's_Great_Rift_Valley.jpg|440x248px|thumb|right|alt=date QS:P571,+2050-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+2009-11-25T00:00:00Z/11,P1326,+2010-02-03T00:00:00Z/11|This Envisat radar image captures volcanoes dotted across the landscape in Tanzania, including the distinctive Ol Doinyo Lengai (at lower left), in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. The Gelai Volcano (2942 m) is visible at the top, and the Kitumbeine volcano]]
The East African Rift follows the Red Sea to the end before turning inland into the [[Ethiopian Highlands|Ethiopian highlands]], dividing the country into two large and adjacent but separate mountainous regions. In Kenya, Uganda, and the fringes of South Sudan, the Great Rift runs along two separate branches that are joined to each other only at their southern end, in Southern [[Tanzania]] along its border with [[Zambia]]. The two branches are called the [[Western Rift Valley]] and the [[Eastern Rift Valley]].

The Western Rift, also called the [[Albertine Rift]], is bordered by some of the highest mountains in Africa, including the [[Virunga Mountains]], [[Mitumba Mountains]], and [[Ruwenzori Range]]. It contains the [[Rift Valley lakes]], which include some of the deepest lakes in the world (up to {{convert|1470|m}} deep at [[Lake Tanganyika]]).

Much of this area lies within the boundaries of national parks, such as [[Virunga National Park]] in the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]], [[Rwenzori National Park]] and [[Queen Elizabeth National Park]] in Uganda, and [[Volcanoes National Park]] in [[Rwanda]]. [[Lake Victoria]] is considered to be part of the rift valley system although it actually lies between the two branches. All of the [[Great Lakes (Africa)|African Great Lakes]] were formed as the result of the rift, and most lie in territories within the rift.

In [[Kenya]], the valley is deepest to the north of [[Nairobi]]. As the lakes in the Eastern Rift have no output to the sea and tend to be shallow, they have a high [[mineral]] content as the evaporation of water leaves the salts behind. For example, [[Lake Magadi]] has high concentrations of soda ([[sodium carbonate]]) and [[Lake Elmenteita]], [[Lake Bogoria]], and [[Lake Nakuru]] are all strongly [[alkaline]], while the freshwater springs supplying [[Lake Naivasha]] are essential to support its current biological variety.

The southern section of the Rift Valley includes [[Lake Malawi]], the third-deepest freshwater body in the world, which reaches {{Convert|706|m|}} in depth and separates the [[Niassa Province|Nyassa]] plateau of Northern Mozambique from Malawi. The rift extends southwards from Lake Malawi as the valley of the [[Shire River]], which flows from the lake into the [[Zambezi]] River. The rift continues south of the Zambezi as the [[Urema Valley]] of central Mozambique.<ref>Steinbruch, Franziska (2010). Geology and geomorphology of the Urema Graben with emphasis on the evolution of Lake Urema, ''Journal of African Earth Sciences'', Volume 58, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 272-284. ISSN 1464-343X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2010.03.007.</ref>