The Eger Graben (much less commonly called the Ohre or Ohře Graben; cs, Oherský rift, german: Egergraben) is a geological structure in the Czech Republic. It runs southwards, parallel to the Ore Mountains and its formation is linked with that of the mountain range.

Topography

The Ohře (equally commonly known in English by its German name ''Eger'', hence the name of the trough) flows through the Eger

Graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...

and separates the Ore Mountains from the Slavkov Forest and the Doupov Mountains. The trench continues to the northeast along the valley of the Bílina and later, as the North Bohemian Basin, separates the Ore Mountains from the

Bohemian Central Mountains Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

, where the River Ohře leaves the graben and flows into the Elbe south of the Bohemian Mountains.

Geology

The Eger Graben is part of the European Cenozoic Rift System and was created geologically on the same principle as the Rhine Rift Valley. It was formed by the almost complete erosion of the Variscan Mountains and sits on a fault-block caused by the horizontal pressure of the African continental plate. This block dropped, however, in contrast to the surrounding area. The Ore Mountains are

fault-block mountains Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by rela ...

which rise very gently in Germany, but drop very steeply into the Eger Graben. The trench thus follows the main fault line of the Ore Mountains. Researchers believe that a new volcano is in the process of forming and hope to be able to drill holes in the area to better study what they believe is an awakening volcano.''Sachsen: Forscher entdecken erwachenden Vulkan nach Erdbeben''
at focus.de. Retrieved 18 December 2021.

References

Sources

P. De`zes*, S.M. Schmid, P.A. Ziegler (2004) ''Evolution of the European Cenozoic Rift System: interaction of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogens with their foreland lithosphere''Peter A. Ziegler (1990) ''Geological atlas of Western and Central Europe'', Volume 2
{{Authority control Geography of the Czech Republic Cenozoic rifts and grabens