East African Plateau is a huge plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

 in the eastern part of central Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. Its elevation is mostly between 1000 and 1500 meters. It is subdivided into a number of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of ranges, tablelands and depressions. The most striking feature is the existence of two great lines of depression, due largely to the subsidence of whole segments of the Earth's crust, the lowest parts of which are occupied by vast lakes. Towards the south the two lines converge and give place to one great valley (occupied by Lake Nyasa), the southern part of which is less distinctly due to rifting and subsidence than the rest of the system.

External links

• Robert J. Last, Andrew A. Nyblade, Charles A. Langston, Thomas J. Owens: Crustal structure of the East African Plateau from receiver functions and Rayleigh wave phase velocities JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 102, NO. Bll, PAGES 24,469-24,483, NOVEMBER 10, 1997