The North Alpine Foreland Basin developed since the Tertiary in consequence of the European-Adriatic continental collision. It features today a wedge shape and is filled with erosional products of the Alps (called Molasse). Bordered to the south by the Alps, the Molasse Basin is underlain by Mesozoic deposits, which have accumulated in the Tethys Ocean. This Mesozoic succession includes the karstified upper Jurassic Malm aquifer, which is today highly used for geothermal energy production.

Even though the Molasse Basin area has been an object of interest for science and economy during the last decades, its geological and thermal configuration is still not fully understood. With our study we want to contribute to the understanding of the basin configuration. Therefore, we construct a three dimensional model of the geological structure of the basin down to the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) using different kind of existing data, like wells, seismic and gravity data. This structural model serves as the frame for the calculation of the present-day conductive thermal field and subsequent simulations of the coupled fluid- and heat transport.

Poster

The 3D conductive thermal field of the North Alpine Foreland Basin - Influence of the deep structure of the adjacent European Alps -

Cooperationpartners

Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience
Freie Universität Berlin, Faculty of Geological Science, Hydrogeology Workinggroup