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 of Rift Lake
- Lake Khuvsgul in northern Mongolia
- Rift Valley lakes, eastern Africa
- Lake Baikal in Siberia
- Lake Vostok in Antarctica may have formed in a rift setting
- Lake Balaton in Hungary
- Salton Sea, southern California
- The Orcadian Lakes - rift lakes formed during the Middle Devonian in northern Scotland
- Lake Lockatong - a rift lake of Triassic age formed in the Newark Basin.
