Dictionary

graben en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from German Graben (“ditch”), from the verb graben (“to dig”).

Meanings

1. An elongated block of the Earth's crust, bounded by faults, that has dropped relative to the surrounding area.
   • 2015, C. F. Burgess, et al., Chapter 35: The Structural and Stratigraphic Evolution of Lake Tanganyika: A Case Study of Continental Rifting, W. Manspeizer (editor), Triassic-Jurassic Rifting: Continental Breakup and the Origin of the Atlantic Ocean and Passive Margins, Part A, page 866, These distinct zones of strike-slip or scissor faulting which separate adjacent half-grabens were termed interbasinal ridges and hinged highs by Rosendahl et al. (1986).
   • This system includes the Syrian and Lebanese grabens; the grabens of the Dead Sea, Wadi al Arabah, Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden; and the Ethiopian graben. 1969, V. V. Beloussov, “Contintal Rifts”, in Pembroke J. Hart, editor, The Earth's Crust and Upper Mantle, page 539:
   • 1959, Robert G. Yates, George A. Thompson, Geology and Quicksilver Deposits of the Terlingua District, Texas, U. S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 312, page 49, The magnitude and shape of the large grabens strongly suggest that, when they formed, material much more mobile than ordinary rocks was present at a depth no greater than a few miles.
   • 1997, Jean-Marie Rouchy, 2: Paleogene Continental Rift System of Western Europe, Georges Busson, B. Charlotte Schreiber (editors), Sedimentary Deposition in Rift and Foreland Basins in France and Spain (Paleogene and Lower Neogene), page 83, Migration of the subsidence axis has been revealed by the detailed sedimentological studies in most of these grabens, particularly in the Bresse basin (Curial 1986; Moretto 1986/1987) and in Manosque-Forcalquier.

Forms

Antonyms

horst

Coordinates

fault

Deriveds

horst and graben · half-graben

Translations (13)

nl slenk (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · kk опырық (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · tr graben (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · de Graben (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · ja 地溝 (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · pt graben (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · pl rów tektoniczny (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · fi vajoama (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · tr çöküntü hendeği (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · ru гра́бен (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · tr yer çöküntüsü (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · cmn 地塹 /地堑 (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks) · vi địa hào (elongated block of the Earth's crust that has dropped relative to the surrounding blocks)