Mw. Vandenberg et al., PATTERNS AND VELOCITIES OF RECENT CRUSTAL MOVEMENTS IN THE DUTCH PARTOF THE ROER VALLEY RIFT SYSTEM, Geologie en mijnbouw, 73(2-4), 1994, pp. 157-168
This article presents an integration of geomorphological and geodetic
data from the area of the 1992 Roermond earthquake. A dense network of
lineaments is evident from major and minor terrain features, and drai
nage patterns also show structural control on a kilometre scale. These
discontinuous terrain lineaments, often of anastomosing character, ma
tch known fault patterns and suggest that the upper crust is subdivide
d into many, relatively small (up to 10 km scale) wedge-shaped blocks.
The lineament distribution is consistent with patterns predicted by i
dealized strain ellipses. It shows a right-lateral component in the mo
tion along major faults within the Lower Rhine Embayment. The wrenchin
g component can be related to a left-lateral motion along the Variscan
Front, and a subsequent right-lateral offset of the edge of the Londo
n-Brabant Massif. The analysis of a 117-years-long data set of vertica
l movements at 2922 geodetic bench-marks evidences significant differe
ntial movements, and corroborates the sense of relative motion given b
y the lineaments.