Abstract
We determine the source parameters of three minor earthquakes in the Upper Rhine Graben (URG), a Cenozoic rift, using waveforms from permanent and temporary seismological stations. Two shallow thrust-faulting events (M L = 2.4 and 1.5) occurred on the rift shoulder just south of Heidelberg in March 2005. They indicate a possible movement along the sediment–crystalline interface due to tectonic loading from the near-by Odenwald. In February 2005, an earthquake with a normal-faulting mechanism occurred north of Speyer. This event (M L = 2.8) had an unusual depth of about 22 km and a similar deep normal-faulting event occurred there in 1972 (M L = 3.2). Other lower crustal events without fault plane solutions are known from 1981 and 1983. At such a depth, inside the lower crust, ductile behaviour instead of brittle faulting is commonly assumed and used for geodynamic modelling. Based on the newly available fault plane solutions we can confirm the brittle, extensional regime in the upper and lower crust in the central to northern URG indicated in earlier studies.
Published Version
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