Tanzania is being slowly torn apart by the East African Rift, where the continent is splitting into the Nubian and Somali plates. This active continental rifting stretches the crust, opens deep faults and feeds a line of volcanoes and earthquakes across the north of the country, part of the process that may one day create a new ocean.
Tanzania is home to Ol Doinyo Lengai, the only active volcano on Earth that erupts cool, black natrocarbonatite lava, and to Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak and a dormant volcano. Rift-related earthquakes are common near Lake Tanganyika and the Natron area, underlining the region's geological restlessness.