diff --git a/dumux/geomechanics/elastic/elasticpropertydefaults.hh b/dumux/geomechanics/elastic/elasticpropertydefaults.hh
index 69edcc968d5a794aa311c9c3969a0f776f9e7aff..804d151d3183ddf2a9c576fbdacceb588ec035d9 100644
--- a/dumux/geomechanics/elastic/elasticpropertydefaults.hh
+++ b/dumux/geomechanics/elastic/elasticpropertydefaults.hh
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ SET_TYPE_PROP(BoxElastic, FluxVariables, ElasticFluxVariablesBase<TypeTag>);
 
 //! Set the indices used by the linear elasticity model
 SET_TYPE_PROP(BoxElastic, Indices, ElasticIndices<>);
+
+//! enable gravity by default
+SET_BOOL_PROP(BoxElastic, ProblemEnableGravity, true);
 }
 }