GREAT RIFT VALLEY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Great Rift Valley mean? 

• GREAT RIFT VALLEY (noun)
  The noun GREAT RIFT VALLEY has 1 sense:

1. ( geology) a depression in southwestern Asia and eastern Africa; extends from the valley of the Jordan River to Mozambique; marked by geological faults

  Familiarity information: GREAT RIFT VALLEY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GREAT RIFT VALLEY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

( geology) a depression in southwestern Asia and eastern Africa; extends from the valley of the Jordan River to Mozambique; marked by geological faults

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Instance hypernyms:

rift valley (a valley with steep sides; formed by a rift in the earth's crust)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Holonyms ("Great Rift Valley" is a part of...):

Africa (the second largest continent; located to the south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean)

Asia (the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to Europe on the west to form Eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations)

 Context examples 

The new dinosaur is called Shingopana songwensis, derived from the Swahili term shingopana for wide neck; the fossils were discovered in the Songwe region of the Great Rift Valley in southwestern Tanzania.

(Paleontologists discover new species of sauropod dinosaur in Tanzania, National Science Foundation)

The newly discovered animal is called Pakakali rukwaensis, the name derived from the Swahili term pakakali, meaning fierce cat, and rukwaensis, the word for the Rukwa Rift region of the Great Rift Valley in southwestern Tanzania.

(Fossil discovery in Tanzania reveals ancient bobcat-sized carnivore, National Science Foundation)

However, seismic imaging has shown that mantle heat in this region may reach the ice sheet through a rift, that is, a fracture in Earth's crust such as appears in Africa's Great Rift Valley.

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)

About 250 miles (400 kilometers) wide and 2 miles (3 kilometers) deep, Mercury’s great valley is smaller than Mars’ Valles Marineris, but larger than North America’s Grand Canyon and wider and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

(‘Great Valley’ Found on Mercury, NASA)