The Eger Graben (much less commonly called the Ohre or Ohře Graben; , ) is a geological structure in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It runs southwards, parallel to the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

and its formation is linked with that of the mountain range.

Topography

The

Ohře The Ohře (), also known in English and German as Eger (), is a river in Germany and the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It flows through the Bavarian district of Upper Franconia in Germany, and through the Karlovy Vary Region ...

(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 depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

and separates the Ore Mountains from the

Slavkov Forest The Slavkov Forest (formerly also Emperor's Forest; , ) is a highland and geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the Karlovy Vary Region. Slavkov Forest is also the name of a protected landscape area, partially locat ...

and the Doupov Mountains. The trench continues to the northeast along the valley of the

Bílina Bílina (; ) is a town in Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. It is known for its destination spa, spas and as a source of the strongly mineralized water, Bílinská kyselka. The ...

and later, as the North Bohemian Basin, separates the Ore Mountains from the Bohemian Central Mountains, 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 The European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) is a long system of rifts formed in the foreland of the Alps as the lithosphere responded to the effects of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogenies. The system began to form during the Late Eocene and parts ...

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

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n continental plate. This block dropped, however, in contrast to the surrounding area. The Ore Mountains are fault-block mountains 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