Rift development which is recorded in apparent structural features and the derived rift kinematics indicate that the graben proper of the Upper Rhine rift region is evidently confined to the upper part of the crust. The graben proper follows the crest of a crustal dome. The observed crustal extension attaining the amount of some kilometers seems to be too large to be accounted for by the doming mechanism alone. On the other hand there is a lack of evidence for a relative movement of adjacent crustal blocks over subcrustal material. The purpose of this paper is the examination of rift development due to the gravitational potential which is imposed by crustal uplift. The dynamical parameters of crustal models have been determined by means of finiteelement modelling. They appear to be of tectonic significance. While the frequency of typical faults at the surface and the location of volcanic activity at the vicinity of the crustal dome coincide reasonably with the elastic response of the crustal slab to a prescribed uplift, the position of present-day earthquake hypocenters is well predicted by the relaxed state of crustal stresses. The prescribed function of uplift has been inferred from the structural boundary layer of Middle—Upper Trias. For a reasonable set of crustal parameters the calculated crustal extension according to gravitational potential appears to be the predominant mechanism forming the graben. Thus the numerical calculations support the idea of initial rift development caused by gravitational potential corresponding to crustal doming, however, without the assumption of classical gravity-gliding mechanism.