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New insights into the crustal structure of the North German Basin from reprocessing of seismic reflection data using the Common Reflection Surface stack

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Abstract

The influence of deep crustal processes on basin formation and evolution and its relation to current morphology is not well understood yet. A key feature to unravel these issues is a detailed seismic image of the crust. A part of the data recorded by the hydrocarbon industry in the late 1970s and 1980s in the North German Basin were released to the public recently. The seismic reflection data were recorded down to 15 s two-way travel time. The mean Common Midpoint fold of about 20 is relatively low compared to contemporary seismic acquisitions. The processing of the 1980s focussed on the sedimentary structures to explore the hydrocarbon potential of this area. We applied the Common Reflection Surface stack technique to the data sets, which is well suited for low-fold data. The reprocessing was focussed on the imaging of the subsedimentary crustal range. The reprocessed images show enhanced reflections, especially in the mid and lower crustal part. Also, the image of the salt structures in the graben area was improved. Furthermore, the reprocessed images indicate an almost flat Moho topography in the area of the Glückstadt Graben and an additional lower crustal structure, which can be correlated with a high-density body found in recent gravity modeling studies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the German Society for Petroleum and Coal Science and Technology (DGMK) for kindly providing the seismic data sets and supplemental material. The authors are also grateful for funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG) of the SPP 1135—Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems under Varying Stress Conditions: The Example of the Central European Basin-System (Grant Ga 350/12-1) and the Wave Inversion Technology (WIT) consortium for providing the CRS stack code. We also thank Leonie Jones and the anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggestions that helped improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geophysik, Universität Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Mi-Kyung Yoon, Mikhail Baykulov, Stefan Dümmong, Heinz-Jürgen Brink & Dirk Gajewski

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  1. Mi-Kyung Yoon
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  2. Mikhail Baykulov
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  3. Stefan Dümmong
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  4. Heinz-Jürgen Brink
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  5. Dirk Gajewski
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Correspondence to Mi-Kyung Yoon.

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Yoon, MK., Baykulov, M., Dümmong, S. et al. New insights into the crustal structure of the North German Basin from reprocessing of seismic reflection data using the Common Reflection Surface stack. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 97, 887–898 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0252-5

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