Fachausschuss Geowissenschaften

Structure and Evolution of the Central European Basin System according to 3D modeling

The first part of the DGMK-Project 577-2 summarized the results of 36 research projects (DGMK-Research Report 577-2/1), which were funded within the priority research programme of the German Science Foundation (DFG) entitled “Dynamics of complex sedimentary basins under varying stress conditions by example of the Central European Basin System”. The projects, co-sponsored by the DGMK-Project 577-1, were carried out from 2002 to 2008.
The second part of the DGMK-Project 577-2 focused on building a large-scale dynamic 3D structural model of the Central European Basin System (CEBS) by integrating smaller models derived previously and completing the model area by additional data-sources. Based on that model, the structural evolution and the salt movements within the CEBS were reconstructed (GFZ Potsdam) and – for a selected region within the Southern Permian Basin – the temperature field and the generation and accumulation of hydrocarbons were modeled (RWTH Aachen). Finally, the CEBS has been classified and compared with other sedimentary basins worldwide. Based on the results an unidentified remaining exploration potential of the North German Basin could be defined (confidential chapter) (HJ Brink).
This research report covers the results of work carried out by GFZ Potsdam within the second part of the DGMK-Projekt 577-2. It describes in detail the various data bases used to construct a 3D structural model for the entire basin system reaching from Norway to the midlands of Germany and from Great Britain to Poland as well as the methods to integrate them into a uniform model. Then the model is discussed in detail. Further on, original sediment thicknesses are reconstructed for different time intervals providing the base to reconstruct salt movements throughout basin evolution which are finally discussed.