<P> The River Jordan begins here and flows southward through Lake Hula into the Sea of Galilee in Israel . The Rift then continues south through the Jordan Rift Valley into the Dead Sea on the Israeli - Jordanian border . From the Dead Sea southwards, the Rift is occupied by the Wadi Arabah, then the Gulf of Aqaba, and then the Red Sea . </P> <P> Off the southern tip of Sinai in the Red Sea, the Dead Sea Transform meets the Red Sea Rift which runs the length of the Red Sea . The Red Sea Rift comes ashore to meet the East African Rift and the Aden Ridge in the Afar Depression of East Africa . The junction of these three rifts is called the Afar Triple Junction . </P> <P> The East African rift has two branches, the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley . </P> <P> The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, is bordered by some of the highest mountains in Africa, including the Virunga Mountains, Mitumba Mountains, and Ruwenzori Range . It contains the Rift Valley lakes, which include some of the deepest lakes in the world (up to 1,470 metres (4,820 ft) deep at Lake Tanganyika). </P>

What physical process is responsible for the great rift valley and the great escarpment