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Rift Valley
Block Mountains
Rift Valley
• Major relief feature of Faulting
Activity is Rift Valley.
• Formation : A Rift Valley may be
formed in two ways : (1) When the
middle portion between two
normal faults is dropped
downward the sides remain stable.
• (2) When the middle portion
remains stable and the two sides
are raised upward .
Contd….
• They are also known as Graben.
• These valleys have flat bottoms and
steep sides .E.g.- Jordan Valley ,
Great Rift Valley of East Africa .
• Some Rift valleys have become lakes
.E.g.- Lake Nyasa ,Lake Rudolf ,Dead
Sea.
• The Rhine Rift Valley in Europe is
bounded by Vosages and Hardt
Mountains .It is a fine example of the
Rift Valley caused by Faulting.
• In India the Narmada Valley,
Damodar Valley, Tapi valley are
example of the Rift valley.
Block Mountains
• Block mountain is another
important feature of
Faulting caused by the
Tensional features in the
Earth’s crust .
• The mechanism of
formation of Block
mountains is same as the
Rift valley.
• The Block mountains as in
the case of the Rhine
valley ,are often found on
the sides of the Rift
valley. It is because the
land between two parallel
Contd….
• Characteristics of Block mountains – flat
tops, flat bottoms on sides and steep fault
scrap .
• The Vosges in France and the Black Forest
mountains in Germany are examples of
the Block mountains .
• Other Block mountains – Salt Rang in
Pakistan, the Vindhyas and the Satpuras in
India are examples of Block mountains
.They enclose between them the Rift
valleys.
• The Fault Blocks with sharp features are
Flat top
Distribution of Folded and Faulted
Landforms
• The fold mountains of various periods are found
almost in every continent .Almost all of them are
arranges in long lines and interlinked extending
through oceans .
• The Alpine-Himalayan system extends from the
strait of Gibraltar through the Mediterranean Basin
, Asia Minor to India and South –East Asia.
• The Circum –Pacific system comprises of Andes
,the North American cordillera & Island arcs .These
two system meet north of Australia .
• These two system are the main systems from
where various branches extend in different
directions .These are said to have existed as
geosynclines some 50 – 60 million years ago .
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