page_title: Upper Rhine Plain
section_title: Volcanic activity
hierarchical_section_title: Upper Rhine Plain / Volcanic activity
caption_attribution_description: Beschreibung: Oberrheingraben (hypsograf.) mit Städten Quelle: Bild aus "Oberrheinische Tiefebene", hypsografisch nachbearbeitet und um die Lage von 18 Städten ergänzt + beschriftet Zeichner: Geof 18.1.2005 Andere Versionen: s.o. Lizenzstatus: GNU FDL 22:48, 18. Jan 2005 Geof 300 x 529 (354954 Byte) (Oberrheingraben (hypsograf.) mit Städten )
context_page_description: The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben is a major rift, about 350-kilometre-long and on average 50-kilometre-wide, between Basel in the south and the cities of Frankfurt/Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the border between France and Germany. 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 and remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms a downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Rhine Graben (blue shades) between Basel and Frankfurt with adjoining mountain ranges (green to brown); colour-coding according to digital elevation model
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