Albertine Rift

The western branch of the East African Rift, extending along the borderlands of central Africa. It is marked by deep lakes, steep escarpments, and high volcanic and nonvolcanic mountains.

East African Rift: A system of tectonic rifts where the African Plate is splitting into smaller plates. The Albertine Rift forms the western branch of this larger rift system.
Continental rifting: The stretching and thinning of continental lithosphere that can eventually split a continent. It is the tectonic process widening the rift.
Lake Tanganyika: A deep freshwater lake in the East African Rift, bordered by Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia. Its long, deep basin is a defining southern feature of the Albertine Rift.
Albertine Rift montane forests: A belt of moist montane forests along the highlands of the Albertine Rift. These forests support many endemic species across the rift's mountain slopes.
Biodiversity hotspot: A biogeographic region with many endemic species and substantial habitat loss. The Albertine Rift's rich, threatened species assemblages meet this conservation designation.
Great Rift Valley: A chain of geographic depressions and escarpments extending through eastern Africa and southwest Asia. The Albertine Rift is often treated as part of this broader landscape feature.
Normal fault: A fault in which the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall under extension. Normal faults create the rift's steep escarpments and subsiding basins.
Lake Albert: A freshwater lake on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It occupies the rift's northern lake basin.
Albertine Rift endemic birds: Bird species whose natural ranges are restricted to the Albertine Rift region. Their concentrated ranges make the rift a major focus for bird conservation.
Endemism: The restriction of a species or group of species to a particular geographic area. Isolation among rift mountains and valleys has fostered locally restricted species.

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