Upper Rhine Graben

Blockbild und Übersichtskarte zum Upper Rhine Graben.
Picture top left: Henk (TU Darmstadt).
Picture below left: ESRI Basemap.

The Upper Rhine Graben is a textbook example of a continental rift. It represents the central part of a tectonic fracture system that has existed for about 40 million years and can be traced across Europe. The Upper Rhine Graben has been lowered for several kilometres. At the same time, the trench was filled with sediment over the course of time by the intrusion of trench edges, seas and rivers. For about 20 million years, the pressure of the Alps has caused a horizontal shift as well as the lowering of the Upper Rhine Graben. The areas east of the Upper Rhine Graben have shifted about 18 km to the north compared to the western areas. The accumulation of earthquakes in the area of the Upper Rhine Graben proves that the fault system is still active today.