Upper Rhine Plain

Coordinates: 48°57′54″N 8°14′02″E / 48.9650°N 8.2340°E / 48.9650; 8.2340
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Upper Rhine Plain,[1] Rhine Rift Valley[2] or Upper Rhine Graben[3] (German: Oberrheinische Tiefebene, Oberrheinisches Tiefland or Oberrheingraben, French: Vallée du Rhin) is a major rift, about 350-kilometre-long (220 mi) and on average 50-kilometre-wide (31 mi), between Basel in the south and the cities of Frankfurt/Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the France–Germany border. It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System, which extends across Central Europe. The Upper Rhine Graben formed during the Oligocene, as a response to the evolution of the Alps to the south. It remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms a downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows.

Formation

Satellite image showing the southern section of the Upper Rhine Plain and the rift flanks of Vosges, France, and the Black Forest, Germany.
Schematic cross-section of the Rhine Rift Valley.

The Upper Rhine Plain was formed during the Early

Alpine Orogeny, the major mountain building event that was to produce the Alps, was in its early stages. The Alps were formed because the continents of Europe and Africa collided. It is thought that because the collision was irregular, the initial contact between the two continents resulted in the formation of dilational (extensional) structures in the foreland basin to the north of the Alps.[4] The result was substantial crustal thinning, forming a major extensional graben
and causing isolated volcanic activity. The stretch factor is estimated to be ~2.

Rift flank uplift

To both the east and west of the Rhine Plain, two major hill ranges have formed that run the length of the basin. To the west, in France, these hills are known as the

normal fault
zones.

The northern section of the Rhine Plain is equally framed by somewhat lower mountain ranges, the Palatinate Forest on the western and the Odenwald on the eastern side.

Volcanic activity

Rhine Graben (blue shades) between Basel and Frankfurt with adjoining mountain ranges (green to brown); colour-coding according to digital elevation model

The extension induced by the formation of the Alps was sufficient to thin the crust and provide suitable dilational conduits for magmatic and volcanic activity to occur. This resulted in the emplacement of mafic dykes, which follow the general structural trend of the extensional faults. In addition, isolated volcanoes such as the Kaiserstuhl were formed.

The Kaiserstuhl volcano

The

Totenkopf (557 metres). Volcanic activity was most prevalent in the Miocene epoch, some 15 million years ago.[5]
Today, the Kaiserstuhl volcano is extinct.

Seismic activity

In 1356, the

thrust faults that make up the Alps to the south. Doubts have been raised over the adequacy of the seismic evaluation and design of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant, built in the Rhine Plain close to the faults.[6]

The Upper Rhine Plain, view from west to east. Front: a vineyard near Neustadt an der Weinstraße, background: Mannheim (right: Mannheim Power Station, far north: the Odenwald

Upper Rhine aquifer

Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km3 (11,000 cu mi) of fresh water and supplies some 3 million people in France and Germany, supplying 75% of their drinking water and 50% of the water used by industry.[7] Since the 1970s it has suffered increasingly serious pollution from nitrates, pesticides, chloride and VOCs.[7]

Research

A satellite view of the plain: Shot taken by NASA satellite

[8]

A collaboration of 25 universities and government agencies have been researching seismic hazards, neotectonics, and water management of the Quaternary Graben fill. The research focuses on four themes:[9]

  • "Neotectonics and Seismic Hazard (identification of zones of on-going deformation, current stress regime, earthquake location & frequency, hazard assessment)"
  • "Modeling of Hydro systems (modeling of Plio-Quaternary hydro systems of the Upper Rhine Graben and transfer time of pollutants within them)"
  • "Structure and Evolution (reassessment of structural evolution of the Upper Rhine Graben and implications for its neotectonic deformation, fault reactivation, crustal rheology and earthquake activity)"
  • "Dynamic Modeling (multi scale dynamic modeling of the past and present deformation of the Rhine Graben area)"

See also

References

  1. ^ Dickinson, Robert E. (1964). Germany: A regional and economic geography (2nd ed.). London: Methuen.
  2. ISBN 0-7010-0087-2
    .
  3. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2004.06.011. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on September 27, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  4. ^ Sengor, A.M.C. 1976. "Collision of irregular continental margins: Implications for foreland deformation of Alpine-type orogens", Geology, 4, 779–782.
  5. ^ Allen, P.A. & Allen, J.R. 2005. Basin Analysis: Principles and Applications (Second Edition). Blackwell Publishing.
  6. ^ Centrale Nucléaire de Fessenheim : appréciation du risque sismique Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine RÉSONANCE Ingénieurs-Conseils SA, published 2007-09-05, accessed 2011-03-30
  7. ^ a b Assessing the benefits of different groundwater protection levels: results and lessons learnt from a contingent valuation survey in the Upper Rhine valley aquifer, France, S Aulong & JD Rinaudo, IWRA 13th World Water Congress, published 2008-01-09, accessed 2011-04-13
  8. ^ "Visible Earth: Northwestern Europe". Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  9. ^ "The EUCOR-URGENT Project - Home". comp1.geol.unibas.ch. Archived from the original on 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2022-08-20.

External links

48°57′54″N 8°14′02″E / 48.9650°N 8.2340°E / 48.9650; 8.2340

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