graben
noun
- natural geological depression
Wiktionary
name
- A municipality in Bern canton, Switzerland.
noun
Etymology: Borrowed from German Graben (“ditch”), from the verb graben (“to dig”).
- An elongated block of the Earth's crust, bounded by faults, that has dropped relative to the surrounding area.
“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.”
“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.”