Rift

Block view of a rift formed of three segments, showing the location of the accommodation zones between them at changes in fault location or polarity (dip direction)
Gulf of Suez Rift showing main extensional faults

In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart[1][2] and is an example of extensional tectonics.[3] Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben with normal faulting and rift-flank uplifts mainly on one side.[4] Where rifts remain above sea level they form a rift valley, which may be filled by water forming a rift lake. The axis of the rift area may contain volcanic rocks, and active volcanism is a part of many, but not all, active rift systems.

Major rifts occur along the central axis of most mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust and lithosphere is created along a divergent boundary between two tectonic plates.

Failed rifts are the result of continental rifting that failed to continue to the point of break-up. Typically the transition from rifting to spreading develops at a triple junction where three converging rifts meet over a hotspot. Two of these evolve to the point of seafloor spreading, while the third ultimately fails, becoming an aulacogen.

  1. ^ Rift valley: definition and geologic significance, Giacomo Corti, The Ethiopian Rift Valley
  2. ^ Decompressional Melting During Extension of Continental Lithosphere, Jolante van Wijk, MantlePlumes.org
  3. ^ Plate Tectonics: Lecture 2, Geology Department at University of Leicester
  4. ^ Leeder, M.R.; Gawthorpe, R.L. (1987). "Sedimentary models for extensional tilt-block/half-graben basins" (PDF). In Coward, M.P.; Dewey, J.F.; Hancock, P.L. (eds.). Continental Extensional Tectonics. Geological Society, Special Publications. Vol. 28. pp. 139–152. ISBN 9780632016051.