East Africa Rift System GPS and stresses

The Victoria Microplate or Victoria Plate is a small

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

in East Africa. It is bounded on all sides by parts of the active

East African Rift System East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. It is currently rotating anticlockwise. Its boundaries are close to those of the mainly Archaean

Tanzania Craton The Tanzania Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere in central Tanzania. Some of the rocks are over 3 billion years old. Setting The Tanzania Craton forms the highest part of the East African Plateau. The craton is surr ...

, with the two arms of the rift system having propagated along the surrounding Proterozoic shear belts. To the northwest, west and southwest it has a boundary with the

Nubian 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 ...

, to the northeast and east with 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 ...

and to the southeast with the

Rovuma Plate The Rovuma Plate or Rovuma microplate is one of the four tectonic microplates that, together with the larger Nubian Plate, form the African Plate. The other three are the Somali Plate, the Lwandle Plate The Lwandle Plate is one of three tectoni ...

References

{{Geology-stub Tectonic plates Geology of Africa