Structure and evolution of the Northeastern German Basin and its transition onto the Baltic Shield

The post-Permian sequence stratigraphical and structural evolution of the Northeastern German Basin and its transition onto the Baltic Shield has been studied in the Bay of Mecklenburg (SW Baltic Sea) by means of seismic interpretation. Five major sequences have been identified: Middle Triassic, Upper Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Time–isochore maps allowed the identification of several phases of salt pillow growth. The contemporaneity of active salt tectonics and the well studied tectonic evolution of the Northeastern German Basin suggest a causative correlation. The E–W directed extension during the Triassic-Early Jurassic marking the beginning break-up of Pangaea is seen as the trigger process for the first period of salt movement. A fault system outside the limit of the Zechstein evaporates is understood as the consequence of thin-skinned faulting and brittle thick-skinned deformation that accompanied this extension. The observed pronounced erosion of Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic strata is considered to result from the uplift due to the Mid North Sea Doming event in Middle Jurassic times. The seismic data show an undisturbed Late Cretaceous succession which reflects a period of rising sea level, tectonic quiescence and no salt movement. In contrast to the salt pillows which emerged above Triassic fault systems in the westernmost Baltic and western North German Basin, the Cenozoic salt movement activity is the most pronounced. This period of reactivated salt pillow growth started coevally with the onset of the Alpine orogeny at the Cretaceous/Cenozoic transition when the Africa-Arabian plate collided with Eurasia. Generally, no significant faults were identified in the overburden of the salt floored southern Bay of Mecklenburg where ductile Zechstein salt decouples deep rooted faulting from supra-salt deformation.