Deep seismic reflection profile DEKORP 1986-2Q across the Muensterland Basin, Northwest Germany

Abstract

The ca. 60 km long seismic line DEKORP 2Q was recorded in 1986 as part of the DEKORP project, the German deep seismic reflection program. The survey was carried out to investigate possible NW-SE trending crustal structure of the Muensterland Basin with high-fold near-vertical incidence vibroseis acquisition. A detailed description of seismic results is provided by Franke et al. (1990) and supplemented by many other researches. The Technical Report of line 2Q gives complete information about acquisition and processing parameters.

The European Variscides, extending from the French Central Massif to the East European Platform, originated during the collision between Gondwana and Baltica in the Late Palaeozoic. Due to involvement of various crustal blocks in the orogenesis, the mountain belt is subdivided into distinct zones. The external fold-and-thrust belts of the Rhenohercynian and Saxothuringian as well as the predominantly crystalline body of the Moldanubian dominate the central European segment of the Variscides. Polyphase tectonic deformation, magmatism and metamorphic processes led to a complex interlinking between the units.

The W-E directed DEKORP 2Q crosses line 2N nearly perpendicularly and together with its northern part reveals the Upper Cretaceous of the Muensterland Basin, which belongs to the sub-Variscan Foredeep, and the underlying folded Palaeozoic rocks. Towards the south, the Muensterland Basin passes into the Rhenish Massif, a part of the Rhenohercynian Zone. DEKORP 2Q connects the Muensterland 1 borehole in the west with the other drilling Versmold 1 in the east, thus permitting the correlation of the DEKORP data with the industrial seismic network of northern Germany (Franke et al., 1990).

Additional Information

The German Continental Seismic Reflection Program DEKORP (DEutsches KOntinentales Reflexionsseismisches Programm) was carried out between 1984 – 1999 as the German national reflection seismic program funded by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT), Bonn [now: the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)]. DEKORP was administrated by the former Geological Survey of Lower Saxony (NLfB), Hannover [now: the State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG)]. In 1994 the DEKORP management was taken over by the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

The aim of DEKORP was to investigate the deep crustal structure of Germany with high-resolution near-vertical incidence (mostly vibro)seismic acquisition, supplemented by wide-angle seismic and other target-oriented piggy-back experiments, all complemented by optimized methods of data processing and interpretation. The DEKORP project was closely linked with the KTB (German continental deep-drilling program) and was an equivalent to many other deep-seismic programs world-wide such as COCORP, BIRPS, LITHOPROBE, ECORS, CROP, BELCORP, IBERSEIS and many more. The DEKORP-Atlas (Meissner & Bortfeld, 1990) gives a detailed overview about most of the different campaigns and results.

In sum, the resulting DEKORP database includes approximately 40 crustal-scale 2D-seismic reflection lines covering a total of ca. 4 700 km and one 3D-seismic reflection survey covering ca. 400 km². Each DEKORP survey is provided with all datasets that are necessary for either a re-processing (i.e. raw unstacked field records in SEGY) or a re-interpretation (i.e. finally processed sections in SEGY or PNG). The raw data are sorted by records or by CDPs. The final data are available as unmigrated or migrated stacks without or with coherency enhancement. Automatical line-drawings are also included. All data come with additional meta information for each domain (source, receiver, CDP) like coordinates, elevations, locations and static corrections combined in ASCII-tables for geometry assignment. Furthermore, all metadata originating from paper copies are made available as scanned files in PNG or PDF, e.g. field and observer reports, location maps in different scales, near-surface profile headers and others.

The DEKORP datasets provide unique and deep insights into the subsurface below Germany covering the earth’s crust from the surface to the upper mantle and are increasingly requested by academic institutions and commercial companies. Fields of applications are geothermal development, hazard analysis, hydrocarbon/shale gas exploration, underground gas storage, tunnel construction and much more.

Authors

• Stiller, Manfred;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Kaerger, Lauretta;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Agafonova, Tatiana;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Krawczyk, Charlotte;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Oncken, Onno;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Weber, Michael;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
• Former DEKORP Project Leaders
• Former DEKORP Research Group
• Former DEKORP Processing Centre

Contact

• Stiller, Manfred; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany; ➦

Contributors

Bortfeld, R.K.; Dohr, G.; Dürbaum, H.; Fertig, J.; Meissner, R.; Reichert, Ch.; Sadowiak, P.; Schmoll, J.; Wiederhold, H.; Albrecht, J.; Berendes, E.; Braukmueller, F.; Doeppeler, P.; Eulner, K.; Horstmeyer, H.; Keller, F.; Kiehn, M.; Koerbe, M.; Pieper, F.; Schoeppler, G.; Schwanewilm, M.; Thiele, T.; Voessing, H.; Vogel, R.; Weihrauch, U.; Brix, M.; Drozdzewski, G.; Franke, W.; Giese, P.; Janoth, W.; Joedicke, H.; Scherp, A.; Thomas, R.; Thuenker, M.; Weber, K.; Wiesner, M.G.; Wong, H.K.

Keywords

DEKORP, Deutsches Kontinentales Reflexionsseismisches Programm, deep crustal structure, crustal-scale seismic survey, near-vertical incidence seismic reflection, Vibroseis acquisition, Muensterland Basin, Variscan Orogenic Belt, Rhenohercynian, sub-Variscan Foredeep, Mohorovičić discontinuity, hydrocarbon exploration, geothermal resources, lithosphere > earth's crust

GCMD Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > EARTHQUAKES > SEISMIC PROFILE
• EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > TECTONICS > PLATE TECTONICS
• In Situ/Laboratory Instruments > Profilers/Sounders > SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS