Map of East Africa showing tectonic plates

USGS, 5 May 1999

Map of East Africa showing some of the historically active volcanoes (red triangles) and the Afar Triangle (shaded, center)—a so-called triple junction (or triple point), where three plates are pulling away from one another: the Arabian Plate, and the two parts of the African Plate (the Nubian and the Somalian) splitting along the East African Rift Zone.