In this article, we investigate the potential of reverse time migration (RTM) for deep targeting iron oxide deposits and the possible AVO effect that is potentially seen in the common image gathers from this migration algorithm. The results are promising and help to delineate the deposits and host rock structures using a 2D dataset from the Ludvika mines of central Sweden.

We have analysed the role of deep salt layers during tectonic shortening of a group of sedimentary basins buried below the North Sea. Due to the ability of salt to flow over geological timescales, the salt layers are much weaker than the surrounding rocks during tectonic deformation. Therefore, complex structures formed mainly where salt was present in our study area. Our results align with findings from other basins and experiments, underlining the importance of salt tectonics.

We quantify the relative importance of forces driving the dynamics of mountain building using two-dimensional computer simulations of long-term coupled lithosphere–upper-mantle deformation. Buoyancy forces can be as high as shear forces induced by far-field plate motion and should be considered when studying the formation of mountain ranges. The strength of rocks flooring the oceans and the density structure of the crust control deep rock cycling and the topographic elevation of orogens.

Knowledge about the stress state in the upper crust is of great importance for many economic and scientific questions. However, our knowledge in Germany is limited since available datasets only provide pointwise, incomplete and heterogeneous information. We present the first 3D geomechanical model that provides a continuous description of the contemporary crustal stress state for Germany. The model is calibrated by the orientation of the maximum horizontal stress and stress magnitudes.

Properties of deformed rocks are frequently anisotropic. One of these properties is the travel time of a seismic wave. In this study we measured the seismic anisotropy of different rocks, collected in the Alps. Our results show distinct differences between rocks of oceanic origin and those of continental origin.

This paper presents a trans-disciplinary approach bridging the gap between observations of instabilities from the molecular scale to the very large scale. We show that all scales communicate via propagation of volumetric deformation waves. Similar phenomena are encountered in quantum optics where wave collisions can release sporadic bursts of light. Ocean waves show a similar phenomenon of rogue waves that seem to come from nowhere. This mechanism is proposed to be the trigger for earthquakes.

Frequency-dependent amplitude decays of seismic signals induced by wind turbines are determined from (up to) 6 months of continuous recordings measured along an 8 km profile located at a wind farm in Bavaria, Germany. The radiation pattern and amplitude decay of the induced signals are accounted for by an analytical approach that includes path and source effects. This approach is generalized to predict the characteristic seismic radiation patterns of arbitrary wind farm configurations.

This study analyses recently acquired marine seismic data offshore of southeastern Mozambique. It aims to better constrain the early history and formation of southeastern African margins. The crustal structure and segmentation of the Limpopo margin provide evidence of strike-slip rifting along the eastern North Natal Valley. This has profound consequences on our understanding of the East Gondwana breakup, challenging kinematic models based on an overlap between the Antarctic and African plates.

The thermal evolution of the East European Platform is reconstructed by means of thermal maturity and low-temperature thermochronometry. Results showed that major heating occurred before the Permian, with maximum paleotemperatures in the earliest and latest Carboniferous for Baltic–Podlasie and Lublin basins, respectively. The Mesozoic thermal history was characterized by gradual cooling from peak temperatures at the transition from Triassic to Jurassic due to decreasing heat flow.

We performed a detailed study of the rocks surrounding a major Zn–Pb–Cu ore deposit in southwestern Spain in order to characterize the behaviour of chemical elements in the influence area of the hydrothermal system that produced the deposit. Based on this information we propose new ways of detecting the nearby presence of ore deposits of this kind during exploration, thus improving our ability to detect new resources and contributing to securing the future supply of metals for our society.

The long-lived Schio-Vicenza Fault System is a major shear zone cross-cutting the foreland and the thrust belt of the eastern southern Alps. We review 150 years of scientific works and explain its activity and kinematics, characterized by sinistral and dextral transcurrent motion along its southern and northern sections, respectively, by a geodynamic model that has the Adria indenter as the main actor and coherently reconciles the available geological and geophysical evidence collected so far.

A new analogue modelling approach was used to simulate the influence of tectonic extension and tilting of the basin floor on salt tectonics in rift basins. Our results show that downward salt flow and gravity gliding takes place if the flanks of the rift basin are tilted. Thus, extension occurs at the basin margins, which is compensated for by reduced extension and later by shortening in the graben centre. These outcomes improve the reconstruction of salt-related structures in rift basins.