TY - JOUR

T1 - Insight into the structure of the Upper Rhine Graben and its basement from a new compilation of Bouguer Gravity

AU - Rotstein, Y.

AU - Edel, J. B.

AU - Gabriel, G.

AU - Boulanger, D.

AU - Schaming, M.

AU - Munschy, M.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences for permission to use the German gravity database, BRGM for the file with the French database and the MDPA for permission to collect and use their field notes. Extensive review and numerous suggestions by Peter Ziegler considerably improved the manuscript. We also thank Prof. Dr. H.-J. Götze and Dr. S. Schmidt for permission to use their gravity modeling (IGMAS) software. This is EOST contribution 2006.03-UMR 7516, and a contribution of the EUCOR-URGENT Project.

PY - 2006/10/13

Y1 - 2006/10/13

N2 - A compilation of gravity data from the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) is presented that includes all the main data sources from its German and French parts. This data is used to show that the URG consists of, at least, two arc-shaped and asymmetric rift units that tectonically are the basic building blocks of the graben. In this sense the URG does not differ from other continental rifts, such as the African rifts. This division should replace the now classical geomorphologic division of the URG into three segments, based on their different trends. Moreover, the gravity suggests that the faults in the central and southern segments are continuous and have the same trend, appearing to respond as a single kinematic unit. Changes in the gravity field in the graben are shown to reflect not only the structure of the graben, but also the highly variable composition of the basement. In this respect, the URG is quite different from some other Tertiary continental rifts, where possible changes in the composition of the basement are mostly masked in the gravity field by the effect of the overlying low-density sediments. This characteristic is used to study the extent of some of the main basement units that underlie the graben.

AB - A compilation of gravity data from the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) is presented that includes all the main data sources from its German and French parts. This data is used to show that the URG consists of, at least, two arc-shaped and asymmetric rift units that tectonically are the basic building blocks of the graben. In this sense the URG does not differ from other continental rifts, such as the African rifts. This division should replace the now classical geomorphologic division of the URG into three segments, based on their different trends. Moreover, the gravity suggests that the faults in the central and southern segments are continuous and have the same trend, appearing to respond as a single kinematic unit. Changes in the gravity field in the graben are shown to reflect not only the structure of the graben, but also the highly variable composition of the basement. In this respect, the URG is quite different from some other Tertiary continental rifts, where possible changes in the composition of the basement are mostly masked in the gravity field by the effect of the overlying low-density sediments. This characteristic is used to study the extent of some of the main basement units that underlie the graben.

KW - Grabens

KW - Gravity

KW - Rift Valleys

KW - Upper Rhine Graben

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33748787472&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.tecto.2006.07.002

DO - 10.1016/j.tecto.2006.07.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:33748787472

VL - 425

SP - 55

EP - 70

JO - TECTONOPHYSICS

JF - TECTONOPHYSICS

SN - 0040-1951

IS - 1-4

ER -