Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.2, No.2, pp. 159-180, 1979

©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press, Ltd.

REGIONAL STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN NORTHWEST GERMANY

J.C. Pratsch*

*Mobil Oil Co. Author's address: 6822 Charlmont Circle, Dallas, Texas 75248, USA.

Abstract

In the past, the tectonic framework of NW Germany has been considered to be mainly the result of salt-tectonic events which formed a system of regional salt walls, salt-dome fields, and surface structures. The primary cause for salt-tectonic processes has been considered to be an activation of post-Variscan (post-Late Carboniferous) fault blocks, ultimately related to basement fracturing, although the location of such fault blocks has not yet been established. Integration of magnetic, gravity, and published geologic data now leads to the definition of several basement structural elements in NW Germany that influenced sedimentation and tectonics after Late Carboniferous time, possibly even since early Paleozoic (Caledonian) time. Salt tectonics, however, involves secondary processes. Changes in the present strike of these basement elements from N-S in the west to NW-SE in the east are not the result of different phases of basement deformation, but rather the result of movements along pre-existing basement linears and crustal blocks. Mesozoic and Tertiary geologic development in NW Germany follows primarily salt tectonic-related events. Full recognition of the basic causes underlying geologic processes through time in NW Germany should lead to a better understanding of geologic processes and their results, and to a logical planning of applied geologic tasks.