The highlands began to rise over 75 million years ago as the result of upwelling magma which pushed up a dome of ancient rocks of the African Craton. The upwelling magma originated deep in the Earth's mantle and flowed onto the surface in large basaltic lava flows. These thick, basaltic lava flows piled up over millions of years to create the expansive highlands and plateaus that are so primenent throughout the region. As the African plate began to split around 40 million years ago the East African Rift began to develop which broke the highlands into several sections.
Salt lakes began to fill in the depressions formed by the rift and alkaline shield volcanoes continued to spew lava.
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