The geology of Africa is varied and complex, and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent. The African continent rests over two main plates. The

African plate The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes much of the continent of Africa (except for its easternmost part) and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It is bounded by the North American Plate and South American Plat ...

, accounting for the whole of north Africa, and the

Somali plate The Somali Plate is a minor tectonic plate which straddles the Equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is currently in the process of separating from the African Plate along the East African Rift Valley. It is approximately centered on the isl ...

, which accounts for the eastern side of mid and southern Africa. The Somali plate is moving away from the African plate in a split from

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

in the north, to

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

in the south. The parting of these two plates formed the southern part of what used to be known as The

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it i ...

. In geological terms, the African and Somali plate separation has formed the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...

System (EARS), comprising two separate rifts systems - the

Eastern Rift Valley The Gregory Rift is the eastern branch of the East African Rift fracture system. The rift is being caused by the separation of the Somali plate from the Nubian plate, driven by a thermal plume. Although the term is sometimes used in the narrow se ...

, and a western branch known as the

Albertine Rift The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tan ...

. Two massive domes were formed, the Kenyan dome and the Ethiopian dome (known as the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...

). The Albertine Rift follows the western edge of the Kenyan dome. This runs from Lake Malawi in the south, up into

Lake Rukwa Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake located the Rukwa Valley of Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The lake is the third largest inland body of water in the country. Geography The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies midway ...

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

and Lake Albert in the north, where it ends. The Kenyan dome has the eastern branch of the EARS (known as The

Gregory Rift The Gregory Rift is the eastern branch of the East African Rift fracture system. The rift is being caused by the separation of the Somali plate from the Nubian plate, driven by a thermal plume. Although the term is sometimes used in the narrow s ...

) running through its middle, and contains most of what we historically saw as the Great Rift valley.

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

lies in the middle of the dome, with the Gregory Rift to the east of it. The Gregory rift has Lake Eyasi & Lake Manyara at its southern end, running north up to the west of Nairobi and continuing on through Kenya to

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...

- which lies between the northern edge of the Kenyan dome and the southern edge of the Ethiopian dome. The Ethiopian dome is split down the middle by the Eastern Rift, formed by the developing plate boundary, and has formed a valley running from

Lake Chamo Lake Chamo ( Amharic: ቻሞ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of southern Ethiopia. Located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, it is at an elevation of 1,110 meters. The Chamo lake is just to the south of ...

and

Lake Abaya Lake Abaya (Amharic: አባያ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, east of the Guge Mountains. The town of Arba Minch lies on its southwestern s ...

in the south, widening through

Lake Shala Lake Shala (also spelled Shalla) is an alkaline lake located in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park. Overview The lake is 28 kilometers long and 12 wide,''Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68'' with a surface ...

Lake Ziwa A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

and

Lake Koku A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, until it reaches its widest point some from Djibouti. Map Geological Map of Africa 1928-1940 - Touring Club Italiano CART-TRC-24

Major geological events

Vredefort impact structure The Vredefort impact structure is the largest verified impact structure on Earth. The crater, which has since been eroded away, was around across when it was formed. The remaining structure, comprising the deformed underlying bedrock, is loca ...

Geological features

Central African Shear Zone The Central African Shear Zone (CASZ) (or Shear System) is a wrench fault system extending in an ENE direction from the Gulf of Guinea through Cameroon into Sudan. The structure is not well understood. , there was still no general agreement about ...

Geologists of Africa

Maria Wilman Maria Wilman (29 April 1867 – 9 November 1957) was a South African geologist and botanist. She was the first Director of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa and the second female South African to attend the University of Cambridge ...

Hugo Dummett Hugo T. Dummett (1940–2002) was a South African mineral-exploration geologist who is best known for his role in the discovery of the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Barren Lands of Canada's Northwest Territories. Dummett has been described as "the b ...

Geological maps

EB1911 Africa Geology.JPG, 1911 geological map of Africa Africa Surface Lithology.png, 2015 surface

lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

of Africa map

References

External links

United States Geological Survey maps of the geology of Africa (PDF)

Interactive map of the topography of Africa - five selectable sources, including; OpenTopoMap, ESRI Topo & CyclOSM
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