NIZUSE - A DEEP SEISMIC-REFLECTION LINE IN NORTH-EASTERN GERMANY

Out of a dense network of seismic reflection lines for hydrocarbon exp loration in the North-east German Basin, several lines were recorded t o 12 s TWT to obtain information about the structure of the crust and the crust - mantle transition. One of these profiles is presented here . This stretches for 110 km in a NNE direction between Neustrelitz and the island of Usedom. It reaches from the External Variscides in the south across the North German Massif into the Rugen-Pomorze Terrane in the Baltic Sea. Below Cenozoic - Mesozoic - Paleozoic cover with clea r reflections down to base Zechstein, the reflectivity varies consider ably with depth and also laterally. The Paleozoic and Precambrian sedi ments and basement are generally void of reflections, but the lower cr ust and the Moho show strong reflections. To the north the reflectivit y decreases, and the Moho depth increases to beyond the bottom of the record section at 12 s. There are no direct indications for deep-reach ing faults such as the Trans-European Fault in the north. The North Ge rman Massif acted as a ramp towards the Variscan Orogeny, similar to t he London-Brabant Massif further west.