A rift lake is a lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, an area of extensional tectonics in the continental crust. They are often found within rift valleys and may be very deep. Rift lakes may be bounded by large steep cliffs along the fault margins.
Examples
- Rift Valley lakes, eastern Africa
- Lake Baikal in Siberia
- Lake Vostok[citation needed] in Antarctica
- Lake Balaton in Hungary
- The Orcadian Lakes - rift lakes formed during the Middle Devonian in northern Scotland [1]
- Lake Lockatong - a rift lake of Triassic age formed in the Newark Basin[2].
References
- ^ Marshall,J.E.A. & Hewett,A.J. 2003. Devonian. In: Evans, D., Graham, C., Armour, A. & Bathurst, P. (eds): The Millennium Atlas: petroleum geology of the central and northern North Sea. London, the Geological Society of London, 65-81.
- ^ Stones of Princeton
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