The desert floor in Ethiopia looks fixed and ancient, but it is moving. Across the Afar region and down the East African Rift ...

A long, low basin in eastern Africa has spent millions of years collecting some of the most important clues to human origins. Now it is offering another kind of evidence, this time from far below the ...

A new study suggests that a rift in Kenya and Ethiopia has reached a critical stage in the split-up process, and that water may flood it in a few million years ...

Across eastern Africa, the ground is less stable than it appears. Beneath the African continent's savannas, cities, and lakes, tectonic forces are gradually pulling it apart. The East African Rift ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Though East Africa used to be more of a savanna than a desert, it has dried out over the millennia. With less water in the lakes, especially Lake ...

Did you know that continents are still moving and that in a few hundred million years, Earth will look very different? Scientists studying tectonic plates have discovered how parts of Africa are ...

The East African Rift System constitutes a prime example of continental rifting, where the African Plate splits into Nubian and Somali sub-plates. This process is marked by axial rift valleys, normal ...

The East African Rift system represents a major zone of continental extension where the African Plate is slowly splitting into separate plates. Volcanism here is driven by upwelling mantle material ...