scholarly journals Rifting processes in NW-Germany and the German North Sea Sector

2002 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Kockel
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North German Basin ◽  
Nw Germany ◽  
Crustal Shortening ◽  
The North ◽  
And Inversion ◽  
German Basin

AbstractSince the beginning of the development of the North German Basin in Stephanien to Early Rotliegend times, rifting played a major role. Nearly all structures in NW-Germany and the German North Sea - (more than 800) - salt diapirs, grabens, inverted grabens and inversion structures - are genetically related to rifting. Today, the rifting periods are well dated. We find signs of dilatation at all times except from the Late Aptian to the end of the Turonian. To the contrary, the period of the Coniacian and Santonian, lasting only five million years was a time of compression, transpression, crustal shortening and inversion. Rifting activities decreased notably after inversion in Late Cretaceous times. Tertiary movements concentrated on a limited number of major, long existing lineaments. Seismically today NW-Germany and the German North Sea sector is one of the quietest regions in Central Europe.

Seismic tomographic interpretation of Paleozoic sedimentary sequences in the southeastern North Sea

Geophysics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. R45-R56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Nielsen ◽  
Hans Thybo ◽  
Martin Glendrup
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Velocity Structure ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Wide Angle ◽  
North German Basin ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
The North ◽  
Crystalline Crust ◽  
German Basin

Seismic wide-angle data were recorded to more than 300-km offset from powerful airgun sources during the MONA LISA experiments in 1993 and 1995 to determine the seismic-velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle along three lines in the southeastern North Sea with a total length of 850 km. We use the first arrivals observed out to an offset of 90 km to obtain high-resolution models of the velocity structure of the sedimentary layers and the upper part of the crystalline crust. Seismic tomographic traveltime inversion reveals 2–8-km-thick Paleozoic sedimentary sequences with P-wave velocities of 4.5–5.2 km/s. These sedimentary rocks are situated below a Mesozoic-Cenozoic sequence with variable thickness: ∼2–3 km on the basement highs, ∼2–4 km in the Horn Graben and the North German Basin, and ∼6–7 km in the Central Graben. The thicknesses of the Paleozoic sedimentary sequences are ∼3–5 km in the Central Graben, more than 4 km in the Horn Graben, up to ∼4 km on the basement highs, and up to 8 km in the North German Basin. The Paleozoic strata are clearly separated from the shallower and younger sequences with velocities of ∼1.8–3.8 km/s and the deeper crystalline crust with velocities of more than 5.8–6.0 km/s in the tomographic P-wave velocity model. Resolution tests show that the existence of the Paleozoic sediments is well constrained by the data. Hence, our wide-angle seismic models document the presence of Paleozoic sediments throughout the southeastern North Sea, both in the graben structures and in deep basins on the basement highs.

scholarly journals Impact of Late Cretaceous inversion and Cenozoic extension on salt structure growth in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Ahlrichs ◽  
Vera Noack ◽  
Christian Hübscher ◽  
Elisabeth Seidel ◽  
Arne Warwel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North German Basin ◽  
The North ◽  
Salt Structure ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
German Basin

Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic evolution of the North German Basin—results from 3-D geodynamic modelling

2003 ◽  
Vol 373 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lykke Gemmer ◽  
Søren B. Nielsen ◽  
Ulf Bayer
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North German Basin ◽  
The North ◽  
German Basin

Multiphase inversion in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin: Influence of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Ahlrichs ◽  
Vera Noack ◽  
Christian Hübscher ◽  
Elisabeth Seidel
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Convergence Time ◽  
Rift System ◽  
North German Basin ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
The North ◽  
Intraplate Stress ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
German Basin

<p>Within the DFG project StrucFlow, we investigate the multiphase character of Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic inversion in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin based on seismic interpretation. Our analysis rests upon modern high-resolution seismic profiles in combination with data from older seismic surveys and borehole information. The resulting seismic database consists of a dense profile network with a total length of some 10.000 km. This unprecedented seismic grid allows for a detailed tectono-stratigraphic interpretation of Cretaceous and Paleogene deposits in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin. Here, basin inversion began in the Coniacian and Santonian with uplift of the Grimmen High and minor reactivation of Zechstein salt structures. Crestal faults were formed or reactivated above salt pillows in the Bays of Mecklenburg and Kiel. The onset of inversion was contemporaneous with other adjacent basins and is likewise associated with building up intraplate stress within the European foreland related to the beginning Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence. Time-isopach maps of Paleocene deposits in the study area show a slight decrease in thickness to the west. This contrasts the prevailing trend of increasing thickness towards the southwest directed basin center and indicates a changed depositional environment. In the outer eastern Glückstadt Graben, increased thicknesses and diverging strata of late Eocene and Oligocene units indicate significant remobilization of salt structures during this time. Preexisting Triassic faults above the salt pillows “Schleimünde” and “Kieler Bucht” at the eastern border of the Glückstadt Graben were reactivated and form a north-south trending crestal graben filled with Paleogene sediments. This phase of salt remobilization is contemporaneous with the reintroduction of intraplate stress triggered by the Alpine and Pyrenean orogenies in the late Eocene. In the eastern Bay of Kiel and in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Late Eocene and younger sediments are largely absent due to Neogene uplift and erosion. Deepening of rim-synclines and synchronous infill of Paleogene strata give evidence for commencing salt pillow growth. Crestal faults pierce the Paleocene and Eocene strata, indicating salt movement at least during the later Eocene. This phase of salt movement occurred contemporaneously with salt remobilization in the Glückstadt Graben, initiation of the European Cenozoic Rift System and increased activity in the Alpine realm in the Late Eocene to Oligocene. We conclude that the rise of salt pillows since the Eocene significantly exceeds the growth during late Cretaceous to Paleocene inversion phase at the northeastern North German Basin.</p>

scholarly journals Geological evolution of the Chalk Group in the northern Dutch North Sea: inversion, sedimentation and redeposition

2018 ◽  
Vol 156 (07) ◽  
pp. 1265-1284
Author(s):  
EVA VAN DER VOET ◽  
LEONORA HEIJNEN ◽  
JOHN J. G. REIJMER
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Seismic Survey ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
The North ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
New Finding ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Thickness Variations ◽  
Well Data

AbstractIn contrast to the Norwegian and Danish sectors, where significant hydrocarbon reserves were found in chalk reservoirs, limited studies exist analysing the chalk evolution in the Dutch part of the North Sea. To provide a better understanding of this evolution, a tectono-sedimentary study of the Late Cretaceous to Early Palaeogene Chalk Group in the northern Dutch North Sea was performed, facilitated by a relatively new 3D seismic survey. Integrating seismic and biostratigraphic well data, seven chronostratigraphic units were mapped, allowing a reconstruction of intra-chalk geological events.The southwestward thickening of the Turonian sequence is interpreted to result from tilting, and the absence of Coniacian and Santonian sediments in the western part of the study area is probably the result of non-deposition. Seismic truncations show evidence of a widespread inversion phase, the timing of which differs between the structural elements. It started at the end of the Campanian followed by a second pulse during the Maastrichtian, a new finding not reported before. After subsidence during the Maastrichtian and Danian, renewed inversion and erosion occurred at the end of the Danian. Halokinesis processes resulted in thickness variations of chalk units of different ages.In summary, variations in sedimentation patterns in the northern Dutch North Sea relate to the Sub-Hercynian inversion phase during the Campanian and Maastrichtian, the Laramide inversion phase at the end of the Danian, and halokinesis processes. Additionally, the Late Cretaceous sea floor was characterized by erosion through contour bottom currents at different scales and resedimentation by slope failures.

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