The Rhine Valley between the Neuwied basin and the lower Rhenish embayment.

Abstract

The older Rhine terraces rise with increasing steepness from N to S caused by tectonic tilting. The elevation of the terraces is modified by the subsiding Neuwied basin, by the saddle-form upward doming area north of it, and by some flexure zones; one zone is located near the southern end of the lower Rhenish embayment and the second where the Palaeozoic basement submerges under the Cretaceous and Cainozoic cover-beds. This tectonic pattern is again modified by local block faulting along the Middle Rhine valley. -J.M.H.