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Provided by RERO DOC Digital Library Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) (2005) 94: 505–506 DOI 10.1007/s00531-005-0513-0

EDITORIAL

J. H. Behrmann Æ P. A. Ziegler Æ S. M. Schmid B. Heck Æ M. Granet The EUCOR-URGENT Project

Upper Rhine Graben: evolution and neotectonics

Received: 9 May 2005 / Published online: 10 June 2005 Ó Springer-Verlag 2005

EUCOR-URGENT is a transnational Environmental The URGENT Project was developed during 1997– Earth System Dynamics Training through Research 1998 on the initiative of the Geological-Palaeontological Project that is centred on the Graben, the Institute of the of in close cooperation home ground of the EUCOR of Basel, with its EUCOR partners at Albert-Ludwigs-Universita¨t , and . Owing of Freiburg im Breisgau, Universita¨t Fridericiana Kar- to a vast database, the Upper Rhine Graben offers a lsruhe and Universite´Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg. natural laboratory for analysing the evolution of a tec- Following recognition of the URGENT Project as a tonically still active intracontinental rift and for assess- EUCOR Project by the presidents of the EUCOR ing the impact of on-going slow deformation of the Universities, EUCOR-URGENT was launched during a Earth’s crust on large population and industrial con- symposium held in Basel in mid-January 1999 for a centrations. These are exposed to elevated seismic haz- duration of 5 years, with an option for prolongation ards and rely for their water supply to a large extent on into a second phase. Coordination of the EUCOR- groundwater contained in the Quaternary fill of the URGENT Project was entrusted to the University of Upper Rhine Graben. These water resources are Basel, with the Coordinator being supported by a Sci- endangered by anthropogenic pollution. entific Steering Committee in which the four EUCOR Innovating aspects of the EUCOR-URGENT Pro- Universities, as well as ETH Zu¨rich (), Vrije ject are the transnational cooperation of all Solid Earth Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands), BRGM disciplines in an effort to: (1) integrate all Orle` ans () and LGRB Baden-Wu¨rttemberg available data and to acquire new ones applying state- (Freiburg, ), are represented as main contrib- of- the-art technologies and numerical modelling, (2) utors to the Project. As EUCOR-URGENT evolved, quantify and model dynamic processes controlling the additional Universities and National Organisations past and present evolution of the Rhine rift system, (3) joined the Project, mainly by contributing one or more quantify on-going deformation and related earthquake research or training positions funded by themselves or hazards, including assessment of the recurrence time of by their respective National Science Foundations. By major shocks, (4) quantify the dynamics of the Pliocene- mid-2004, the EUCOR-URGENT network embraced Quaternary groundwater systems and the transfer time about 40 Ph.D. students, 20 Post-Docs and 18 senior of pollutants within them. The EUCOR-URGENT re- researchers, who were based either at one of the four search platform provides a solid base for the training EUCOR Universities or at one of the 21 partner Uni- and mobility of young researchers at graduate, post- versities or National Organisations. graduate and post-doctoral levels. During its initial 5-year phase, EUCOR-URGENT was instrumental in attracting for its research and J. H. Behrmann Æ P. A. Ziegler Æ S. M. Schmid training activities substantial funding from external B. Heck Æ M. Granet sources, such as via the EU-5th Framework Program EUCOR-URGENT Project Coordination Centre: ENTEC (ENvironmental TECtonics: the Northern Geologisch-Pala¨ontologisches Institut, Alpine Foreland) and SAFE (Slow moving Active Universita¨t Basel, Bernoullistr. 32, CH, 4056 Basel, Switzerland Faults in Europe) projects and the EU-INTERREG III ‘‘NITRATE’’ and ‘‘Microzonation Greater Basel Area’’ J. H. Behrmann (&) Geologisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universita¨t Freiburg, projects. Moreover, EUCOR-URGENT was recognised Albertstrasse 23 b, 79104 Freiburg, Germany in 2000 by the European Science Foundation (ESF) as E-mail: [email protected] one of its Life and Environmental Networks, 506 and thus was provided with funding of its annual the role of lithospheric and crustal rheology on rift workshops during 2000–2003. These workshops served dynamics under changing stress regimes, and (4) model- the coordination of activities of the different project ling of seismic hazard zonation. components. Towards the end of the initial 5-year period of the The EUCOR-URGENT Project is structured into EUCOR-URGENT Project, its progress was reviewed four discipline-related Themes, each of which is com- during an open symposium held in September 29 to posed of a number of sub-projects. Theme 1 addresses October 1, 2003, at the . This Special Neotectonics and Seismic Hazard, and includes the fol- Issue of the International Journal of Earth Sciences lowing sub-projects: (1) geodetic quantification of uplift, contains a selection of papers that were presented during subsidence and lateral displacement rates, (2) seismicity this symposium. Papers published here cover parts of all and seismic hazard zonation, (3) present- and palaeo- four main research themes of the Project. This way we stress fields, and (4) geomorphologic record of hope to be able to offer a balanced overview of results, Plio-Quaternary deformation, surface and subsurface keeping in mind that numerous other research papers on evidence for recent deformation and evaluation of the the EUCOR-URGENT related topics have already been recurrence time of major earthquakes based on palaeo- published, and additional technical contributions and seismicity records. Theme 2 concerns itself with the syntheses are still to appear. hydrosystems of the Upper Rhine Graben, with sub- At the end of the 2003 Basel symposium it was agreed projects addressing (1) the correlation and sequence that the EUCOR-URGENT Project warrants extension stratigraphy of Plio-Quaternary alluvial systems, (2) into a second 5-year phase during which training aspects their hydrological framework, (3) their sedimentology, ought to be formalised. To this end, a EUCOR training- (4) geochemical and isotopic groundwater characteris- through-research Environmental Earth System Dynam- tics, and (4) the development of hydrogeological models. ics (ESDY) Doctoral School, based on the ‘‘co-tutelle de Theme 3 addresses the structure and evolution of the the` ses’’ system, is currently under development. Upper Rhine Graben, with sub-projects concerned with For further information on EUCOR-URGENT, and (1) a reassessment of its structural configuration, neo- a comprehensive Project-related publication list, readers tectonic deformation and related fault re-activation and of this special issue of International Journal of Earth earthquake activity, (2) the evolution of the crust and Sciences are referred to the Project web site at http:// lithosphere and their present configuration, (3) the evo- www.unibas.ch/-urgent, and to the past and pres- lution of the sedimentary basin and development of re- ent Coordinators, and Project and Data Base Managers: gional palaeogeographic–palaeotectonic maps based on – Peter A. Ziegler, Project Coordinator 1999-2003 a revised chronostratigraphy of the basin fill, (4) the ([email protected]) distribution of magmatic activity in time and space, and – Stefan M. Schmid, Project Coordinator 2004 processes of magma generation, and (5) analysis of the ([email protected]) timing and magnitude of rift shoulder uplifts, based on – Jan H. Behrmann, Project Coordinator 2005 fission track data. Theme 4 is dedicated to multi-scale ([email protected]) dynamic modelling of the past and present deformation – Pierre De` zes, Project and Data Base Manager of the Upper Rhine Graben, involving (1) its 3D pa- ([email protected]) linspastic pre-rift reconstruction, (2) quantitative 1D, 2D and 3D subsidence and uplift modelling, (3) modelling of