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Intrusion versus inversion—a 3D density model of the southern rim of the Northwest German Basin

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Abstract

An unsolved problem of regional importance for both the evolution and structure of the Northwest German Basin is the existence or non-existence of the so-called Bramsche Massif. Explaining the nature of this massif and the cause of a related strong, positive Bouguer anomaly (Bramsche Anomaly) is critical. In the study described here, we tested an existing “intrusion model” against a newer “inversion model” in the southern Northwest German Basin. In the intrusion model, the strongly-positive Bouguer anomaly represents the gravity effect of an intrusion at depths between 6 and 10 km. More recent interpretations invoke tectonic inversion rather than intrusion to explain increased burial and the low level of hydrocarbon maturity found in boreholes. We tested these different interpretations by constructing 3D forward density models to 15 km depth. The intrusion model was updated and adjusted to incorporate recent data and we also modelled pre-Zechstein structures using different scenarios. The final model has a very good fit between measured and modelled gravity fields. Based on currently available seismic and structural models, as well as borehole density measurements, we show that the positive Bouguer anomaly cannot be modeled without a high-density, intrusive-like body at depth. However, further in-sight into the crustal structures of the Bramsche region requires more detailed investigations.

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Acknowledgments

The work presented here is part of the project “Intrusion vs. inversion at the rim of the NWGB: the gravity high of Bramsche revisited. 3D structural modelling by the aid of the Digital Tectonic Atlas” (GO 380/23-1) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft as part of the priority program SPP1135. We thank the section “Seismik und Potentialverfahren” of the GGA (Hannover) for providing gravity and magnetic data and our colleagues from SPP1135 for discussions and ongoing interest. We thank B. Meurers (Vienna, Austria) for his useful comments and suggestions, and Andrea Lippmann for initial preparation of data sets at the beginning of this project. R. Pašteka expresses thanks for financial support from the Slovak Ministry of Education (projects APVT-51-002804 and VEGA 1/3066/06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics, University Kiel, Inst. for Geosiences, Otto-Hahn-Platz 1, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Filiz Bilgili, Hans-Jürgen Götze, Sabine Schmidt & Ron Hackney

  2. Department of Applied and Environmental Geophysics, Comenius University, Mlynska dol. 842 15, Bratislava, Germany

    Roman Pašteka

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  1. Filiz Bilgili
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  2. Hans-Jürgen Götze
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  3. Roman Pašteka
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  4. Sabine Schmidt
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  5. Ron Hackney
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Correspondence to Filiz Bilgili.

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531_2007_267_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Fig. A-1: Model I. Left: Map view of measured and modelled Bouguer gravity. Right: statistics for the difference between measured and modelled gravity. The upper part shows a map of the differences between the measured and the calculated anomaly (residual map) and the lower part shows a histogram of these differences, their standard deviation (6.91×10-5 m/s2) and the correlation coefficient between both fields (0.67). (TIF 17.5 mb)

531_2007_267_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Fig. A-2: Model II. Left: Map view of measured and modelled Bouguer gravity. Right: statistics for difference between measured and modelled gravity (residual map, histogram, correlation coefficient of 0.55, standard deviation of 7.85×10-5 m/s2). (TIF 2.73 mb)

531_2007_267_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Fig. A-3: Model III. Left: Map view of measured and modelled Bouguer gravity. Right: statistics for difference between measured and modelled gravity (residual map, histogram, correlation coefficient of 0.85 and standard deviation of 4.85×10-5 m/s2). (TIF 2.74 mb)

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Bilgili, F., Götze, HJ., Pašteka, R. et al. Intrusion versus inversion—a 3D density model of the southern rim of the Northwest German Basin. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 571–583 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0267-y

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