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Driving force for rifting |
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• Passive rifting (sketches on the right): Plate boundary forces drive the stretching and thinning of the continental lithosphere.
• Active rifting (sketches below): Body forces related to the thermal thinning of the lithospheric mantle drive thinning. Extension in Eastern Africa examplify active rifting since the African plate is surrounded by mid-oceanic ridges and a convergent margin with the European plate. |
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