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Science and Space
Main Health and Human Body Earth Space Prehistoric World A-Z

Virunga Mountains

Lava spews out of a fissure in the Virunga mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Virunga chain is part of the East African Rift Valley system, which marks the boundary between two plates: the Nubian plate to the west and the Somalian plate to the east. The rift valley is a classic example of a divergent plate boundary.

Photograph by Chris Johns