Journal Article Review on East Africa's Great Rift Valley: A Complex Rift System
I. Introduction
The never ending saga on how the earth was created continues on. Numerous scientists have attempted to state different theories and this article describes how two Michigan Tech affiliates believe the East African Rift Valley was created. It is written from an old-earth viewpoint as it was believed to have originated billions of years ago.

II. Brief Overview and Main Points
In this article, the authors James Wood and Alex Guth try and visually describe the area along the rifts in East Africa. They also provide the reader with a detailed explanation of how they believe the rifts were formed. Through this, they are attempting to convince readers that the world had evolved billions of years ago and humans were present in this area at that same time, based on what they have studied.
III. Article Strengths
One of the strengths of this article includes, but is not limited to, the very informative colored digital maps seen online to assist the reader in visualizing the East Africa area. The authors go in depth describing this area, the surrounding geographic features, and their theory of how they feel the rifts were formed. The authors reaffirm this throughout the article, and make it exceptionally clear that the cause of the East African Rift is still unknown, despite their own theory. I feel the authors did not write with precision in regards to the accuracy of the article but were very concise on not knowing the specific cause of the EARS. This will be discussed below under article weaknesses.
IV. Article Weaknesses
Although the colored digital maps were one of the strengths listed above, I felt they would have been more educational for me, had it included every area and condition that was mentioned in the article labeled as well. There were multiple erroneous assumptions that were made in this article. For example, “the complete rift system therefore extends 1000’s of kilometers in Africa alone and several 1000 more if we include the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as extensions.” This article needs to be supported by exact distances to add credibility to the article. According to the Britannica website, the “East African Rift System, also called Afro-Arabian Rift Valley, one of the most extensive rifts on the Earth’s surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The system is some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 miles (48–64 km) wide. (“East African Rift“, n.d., ¶ 1) Two other examples of erroneous assumptions was when the author made this statement “this unique geological setting may have altered the local climate which may have in turn caused our ancestors to develop the skills necessary to walk upright, develop culture and ponder how such a rift came to be;” and “This environmental pressure could have been the drive needed for our ancestors to become bipedal and more brainy as they attempted to adapt to these shifting climates.” (Christensen & Maslin, 2008) (Gani & Gani, 2008) These hypothetical statements completely have the reader draw the conclusion that our ancestors were walking or crawling on all four limbs like animals. According to Genesis 1:27, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Biblica, Inc, 2011) If the authors are correct in their theory, God would have been like an animal that walked on all four limbs and I have never heard or read that assumption to be true in any biblical or non-biblical reading.
An example of a factual error made by Wood and Guth can be found under the section of how the rifts formed. The second sentence states “One popular model for the EARS assumes that elevated heat flow from the mantle (strictly the asthenosphere) is causing a pair of thermal “bulges” in central Kenya and the Afar region of north-central Ethiopia.” This statement is incorrect according to Lutgens and Tarbuck in Foundations of Earth Science, “ Here, tensional forces have stretched and thinned the lithosphere, allowing molten rock to ascend from the mantle.”(Lutgens & Tarbuck, 2011; pgs 163-164) To further back up the above, “the top portion of the asthenosphere has a temperature/pressure regime that results in a small amount of melting.” (Lutgens & Tarbuck, 2011; pg 209) As discussed by Lutgens and Tarbuck, I consider Wood and Guth’s statements to be incorrect.
A scientific method is a process “in which researchers gather facts through observations and formulate scientific hypotheses and theories.” (Lutgens & Tarbuck, 2011; pg 18) As far as the scientific method being violated in this article, the current observations of the basalt eruptions and active crevice formation in the Ethiopian Rift, have according to the authors given them “an excellent field laboratory to study a modern, actively developing rift system”; and “this region is also important for understanding the roots of human evolution. Many hominid fossil finds occur within the rift, and it is currently thought that the rift’s evolution may have played an integral role in shaping our development”. I feel like this article does not blatantly explain and review the two author’s observations and hypothesis of the field work to support their theory of the timeline of when this area was created. The scientific method will never be proven until our Creator, the only observer returns and can explain the occurrence. As mentioned above, under the section on article strengths regarding if the authors wrote with concision and precision, I do not feel this article was accurate. I base this upon my biblical beliefs that this earth was created only thousands of years ago, as depicted by the Holy Bible. The flood during Noah’s day caused the changes in the earths crust. I do feel the authors were concise in this article, because they made it very clear that the cause of the EARS is unknown. Due to the fact that this EARS was not witnessed, it cannot be repeated, which is necessary in forming a valid scientific theory.
The authors could definitely have stated their case more effectively. All throughout the article, the authors use verbiage that is not very convincing to make a strong argument to support their theory. Such words are used like; “what may have been”, “seems”, “whatever the cause”, “what people might assume”, “may”, “could”. There is not any data documented in this article that these two authors performed any type of testing or experiments to submit a theory of how the East African Great Rift Valley was formed and when.

V. Conclusion
James Wood and Alex Guth did not present and support the article on the EARS very well. What should be considered as the cause would be the flood during Noah’s day. This is the theory that explains how the EARS were formed and when; the subduction zones were formed by “giant plumes of water, pulling two areas of the earth apart, causing a fracture. Then giant earthquakes occurred, the crust of the ocean met the crust of the continents, the crust of the ocean got thicker, causing the continents to be dragged down, causing thousands of feet worth of ocean water over the top of the earths crust all along the entire planet”.( paraphrased) (Ross) This is the theory that biblically supports the creation of the East African Rift System and as a Christ believer, our faith is what substantiates this theory.
References
Biblica, Inc (2011). . Retrieved 11/25/2013, from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%201:27&version=NIV
Christensen, B., & Maslin, M. (2008). Rocking the Cradle of Humanity. Geotimes, (), .
East Africian Rift. (n.d.). In (Ed.), britannica. Retrieved November 24, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/176462/East-African-Rift-System
Gani, M. R., & Gani, N. D. (2008). Tectonic Hypotheses of Human Evolution. Geotimes, (), .
Lutgens, F. K., & Tarbuck, E. J. (2011). Plate Tectonics: A Scientific Revolution Unfolds. In A. Dunaway (Ed.), Foundations of Earth Science (p. 18); (pp. 163-164); (p. 209) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Lutgens, F. K., & Tarbuck, E. J. (2011). Restless Earth: Earthquakes, Geologic Structures, and Mountain Building. In A. Dunaway (Ed.), Foundations of Earth Science (p. 209). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Ross, D. M. (Speaker). (). Catastrophic Plate Tectonics [video recording]. Liberty University: .