Abstract
Based on information available from the seismic line DEKORP 9601, together with prior information from multiple wells, this paper presents four major unresolved problems for the North German Basin. These problems are:
What was the tectonic response of the basement through time, and how does one use present-day data to determine tectonic parameters, their uncertainties, and how they varied with time? What was the original Zechstein salt distribution in Permian time in the basin, how and when did the salt move, how much salt was dissolved, and how does one validate any estimates made using present-day data? How much material was uplifted in the SW of the North German Basin, how much was eroded and/or dissolved, and how does one confirm any estimates made? What were the causes of basinal sag in Rotliegend time and after, what fraction of the basinal sag was thermally caused, what fraction was tectonically driven, and what quantitative proof can be provided of the correctness of any such results?
These questions are put forward at this time because it would seem that a combination of the many borehole measurements in the basin (to a typical depth of around 4–5 km), together with information gleaned from the deep seismic line DEKORP 9601, may be sufficient to use with quantitative basin modelling codes in order to answer these questions in a less unequivocal manner than has been possible to date.