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TECTONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, 1006, doi:10.1029/2001TC900022, 2002

Upper Rhine Graben: Role of preexisting structures during rift evolution

Markus E. Schumacher

Geological-Palaeontological Institute, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland


Abstract

The evolution of the Cenozoic Upper Rhine Grabenwas controlled by a repeatedly changing stress field and the reactivationof a complex set of crustal discontinuities that had come into evidence duringPermo-Carboniferous times. A comparison of the spatial and temporal thicknessdistribution of synrift deposits with preexisting fault patterns permits toinfer a sequence of distinct basin subsidence phases that can be related tochanges in the ambient stress field. Reactivation of a system of late Palaeozoicfault systems, outlining troughs and highs, controlled the nucleation of initiallyseparated middle and late Eocene basins, the depocenters of which coincidedwith a preexisting WSW-ENE trend. During Oligocene crustal extension the individualbasins coalesced, resulting in the development of the SSW-NNE striking UpperRhine Graben. During the late Oligocene (Chattian) change in stress field,the Upper Rhine Graben was probably reactivated as a dextral strike-slip systemwith the central graben segment forming a releasing bend. During the earlyMiocene (Aquitanian), a major reorientation of the regional stress field isheld responsible for the main subsidence phase of the northern parts of theUpper Rhine Graben. This is reflected by a counterclockwise rotation and northeastwardshift of the depocenter axis and later by the middle Miocene uplift and erosionof the southern parts of the Upper Rhine Graben. During the Plio-Quaternary,the Upper Rhine Graben was reactivated as a sinistral strike-slip system withthe central graben segment forming a restraining bend.

Published 20 February 2002.

Index Terms: 8105 Tectonophysics: Continental margins and sedimentary basins; 8109 Tectonophysics: Continental tectonics—extensional (0905); 8110 Tectonophysics: Continental tectonics—general (0905); 8164 Tectonophysics: Stresses—crust and lithosphere.

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Citation: Schumacher, M. E. (2002), Upper Rhine Graben: Role of preexisting structures during rift evolution, Tectonics, 21(1), 1006, doi:10.1029/2001TC900022.