Upper Rhine Plain: Difference between revisions

The '''Upper Rhine Plain''',<ref>{{Dickinson's Germany}}</ref> '''Rhine Rift Valley'''<ref>{{subst:Elkins' Germany}}</ref> or '''Upper Rhine Graben'''<ref name="Dèzes">{{cite journal|last=Dèzes|first=P.|coauthors=Schmid S.M. & Ziegler P.A.|year=2004|title=Evolution of the European Cenozoic Rift System: interaction of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogens with their foreland lithosphere|journal=[[Tectonophysics (journal)|Tectonophysics]]|volume=389|pages=1–33|doi=10.1016/j.tecto.2004.06.011|url=http://pages.unibas.ch/earth/tecto/research/dezes_ziegler.pdf|accessdate=June 3, 2010|bibcode = 2004Tectp.389....1D }}</ref> (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major [[rift]], about 350 &nbsp;km long and on average 50 &nbsp;km wide, between the cities of [[Frankfurt]]/[[Wiesbaden]] in the north and [[Basel]] in the south. 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.

[[File:Rhine rift.png|thumb|250px|right|Rhine Graben (blue shades) between Basel and Frankfurt with adjoining mountain ranges (green to brown); colour -coding according to digital elevation model]]