Quaternary faulting in the Upper Rhine Graben revealed by high-resolution multi-channel reflection seismic

Guillaume Bertrand (1) , Philippe Elsass (1) , Gunther Wirsing (2) , Alex Luz (2)

1 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
2 LGB - Landesamt für Geologie und Bergbau

A high-resolution multichannel seismic reflection river profiling campaign was completed in July 2002 in the southern Upper Rhine graben (URG), along the River Rhine. Preliminary results show apparent Quaternary vertical slip rates, on intra-graben faults that are relatively slow, of the order of a few thousandths to a few hundredths of mm/yr. Moreover, kinematical data from the Ludwigshafen area show decreasing vertical slip rates since the Middle Pleistocene and/or a migration of tectonic activity. While still preliminary, these data show inhomogeneous and relatively slow tectonic activity in the URG that could probably not alone have shaped the Quaternary graben morphology. To cite this article: G.

Keywords: Upper Rhine graben; Seismotectonics; Faulting; Vertical slip rate; Seismic reflection profiling Fossé rhénan supérieur; Sismotectonique; Faille; Vitesse de glissement verticale; Réflexion sismique

Domains: Earth Sciences

Guillaume Bertrand, Philippe Elsass, Gunther Wirsing, Alex Luz. Quaternary faulting in the Upper Rhine Graben revealed by high-resolution multi-channel reflection seismic. Comptes Rendus. Géoscience, 2006, 338 (8), pp.574 - 580. ⟨10.1016/j.crte.2006.03.012⟩. ⟨hal-03752376⟩