Rift lake

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

Lake Baikal, in Siberia
Lake Balaton, in Hungary
The Dead Sea, on the border of Israel and Jordan, a pull-apart basin, formed along the Dead Sea Transform.
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.^[1]
Lake Malawi, part of East African Rift
The Orcadian Basin, in northern Scotland, had rift lakes that formed during the Middle Devonian.^[2]
Rift Valley lakes, eastern Africa
The Salton Sea, in Southern California
Lake Tanganyika, part of Albertine Rift
Lake Vostok, in Antarctica, may have formed in a rift setting^[3]
Þingvallavatn, in Iceland

References

^ Stones of Princeton
^ 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.
^ Lake Vostok Workshop (1998). "Lake Vostok: A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary Study?" (PDF). p. 83. Retrieved 29 January 2010.

[1] Stones of Princeton

[2] 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.

[columbia-3] Lake Vostok Workshop (1998). "Lake Vostok: A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary Study?" (PDF). p. 83. Retrieved 29 January 2010.

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