Lake Tanganyika from the air, looking eastwards.Shared between Tanzania, theDemocratic Republic of t

Lake Tanganyika from the air, looking eastwards.Shared between Tanzania, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Zambia, Lake Tanganyikais counted as one of the African Great Lakes, and is thesecond-largest (by volume) and second-deepest lake in the world.  Itis the largest rift lake in AfricaThe East African Rift is an activecontinental rift zone consisting of two main branches – the Easternand Western Rift Valleys.  Within the eastern valley is the AlbertineRift, where Lake Tanganyika is situated.A rift valley is created by adivergent plate boundary, where the plates are moving outwards. Eventually, a centre block drops down between the two plates,creating a graben.  Thecentre drop creates steep walls that go down into the valley, nearlyparallel with each other.Gradually,the valley widens, becoming a large basin that fills with sedimentfrom the rift walls and the region around them.  The valley’s wallsalso become less steep.LakeTanganyika began to form about 10 million years ago, making it one ofonly 20 ancient lakes that are over a million years old. -- source link

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