Is there a major difference between a rift valley and a fault? are they created by the same thing? What makes them different and what causes each?

-- Willette Jenkins (shine52002@yahoo.com), December 05, 2002

Answers

A rift valley is a special type of valley. It is bounded by normal faults and typically forms in an area where plates are diverging or beginning to break apart.

A fault is a fracture along which rocks have moved. They are caused by stresses in earth's crust.

-- Sharon Gabel (gabel@oswego.edu), December 16, 2002.