Rifts
A rift is the result of pulling apart or extension of both the lithosphere and crust (note that the crust is a part of the lithosphere). This is a product of what is referred to as mantle upwelling where hotter asthenosphere rises up into colder lithosphere. This rise is associated with thinning and stretching of the lithosphere.
Read more about this topic: Afar Triple Junction
Famous quotes containing the word rifts:
“Who knows whither the clouds have fled?
In the unscarred heaven they leave no wake,
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,
The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;
The soul partakes the season’s youth,
And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe
Lie deep ‘neath a silence pure and smooth,
Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)