Continental break-up: The East African perspective

Rifts feature highly in the geological history of the Earth, as well as on the surfaces of other solar system bodies such as Mars. On Earth, continental rifts can develop into new plate boundaries where oceanic lithosphere starts to form. This paper examines a seismically and volcanically active rift system, the East African Rift, in which all stages of this complex evolution can be identified and modelled. Using evidence from geological, geophysical and geochemical studies, I outline the deformation of a continental plate from rift initiation to continental break-up, citing examples from the length of the East African Rift.