Rift lake
{{Short description|Lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone}}
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File:26_swiatoinos.jpg – active faulting shown by faceted spurs.]]
File:Albertine Rift, East African Rift (artificial rendering).jpg showing four of its rift lakes]]
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. Rift lakes can host a variety of life forms, and can be valuable for core sampling.{{cite book |title=Reflections On African Rift Lakes: A Journey Through The History Of The World’s Most Interesting Lakes}}
Examples
- Lake Baikal, in Siberia
- Lake Balaton, in Hungary
- The Dead Sea, on the border of Israel, Palestine and Jordan, a pull-apart basin, formed along the Dead Sea Transform.
- Ebi Lake in China at the Dzungarian Gate on the border with Kazakhstan
- Lake Elsinore, in the Elsinore Trough in Southern California
- Lake Hazar, in Turkey
- Lake Idaho, a Pliocene rift lake in Idaho
- Lake Khuvsgul, northern Mongolia
- Limagne, an infilled Paleogene rift lake in France
- Lake Lockatong, a rift lake of Triassic age, formed in the Newark Basin.[http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Communications/Stones_of_Princeton.html Stones of Princeton]
- Lake Malawi, part of East African Rift
- The Orcadian Basin, in northern Scotland, had rift lakes that formed during the Middle Devonian.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.
- Rift Valley lakes, eastern Africa
- Lake Tanganyika, part of Albertine Rift
- Lake Vostok, in Antarctica, may have formed in a rift setting{{cite web|url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/vostok/Report.pdf|title=Lake Vostok: A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary Study?|last=Lake Vostok Workshop|year=1998|pages=83|accessdate=29 January 2010}}
- Þingvallavatn, in Iceland