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

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.