Question

The Great Rift Valley is a large land fracture that

extends 300 kilometers across the African continent.
What process formed the Great Rift Valley?
A) The collision of one plate carrying continental
crust with another plate carrying continental crust
at a convergent boundary.
B) The sinking of a plate carrying one continental
crust beneath a plate carrying another continental
crust at a compression fault.
C) The widening of the crust along a divergent
boundary as two plates carrying continental crust
pulled apart
D) The sinking of a plate carrying oceanic crust
beneath a plate carrying continental crust at the
convergent boundary.

Answer 1

The Great Rift Valley was formed by the widening of the crust along a divergent boundary as two plates carrying continental crust pulled apart. Option C is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Great Rift Valley is a large fracture on the African continent, formed by the process of continental rifting. This geographical feature is evidence of the African Plate splitting into the Somalian Plate and the Nubian Plate.

What process formed the Great Rift Valley? The correct answer is C) The widening of the crust along a divergent boundary as two plates carrying continental crust pulled apart. The East African Rift System, which includes the Great Rift Valley, is the result of this divergent tectonic plate movement. Molten rock rises to fill the gap between the diverging plates, leading to volcanic activity and the formation of new crust.

In contrast, the collision of two continental plates at a convergent boundary leads to the formation of mountain ranges, such as the Alps - not rift valleys. Additionally, while subduction zones involve one plate sinking beneath another, this is not the process responsible for the Great Rift Valley's formation. The Great Rift Valley is not created by the sinking of oceanic crust beneath continental crust either, but by the separation of continental crust.