EGU25-10051, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-10051
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Stress, pore pressure, sediment compaction, deformation, temperature and fluid flow in the SE German part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin
Michael Drews1, Florian Duschl1, Saeed Mahmoodpour1, Enzo Aconcha1, Julian Breitsameter1, Peter Obermeier1, Indira Shatyrbayeva1, Parisa Babaie1, Christian Tomsu2, and Florian Einsiedl2
Michael Drews et al.
  • 1Professorship of Geothermal Technologies, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
  • 2Chair of Hydrogeology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

The North Alpine Foreland Basin is the peripheral foredeep of the Northern Alps, extending from Lake Geneva in the West to Upper Austria in the East. The largest portion of the foredeep consists of an undeformed part, called Foreland Molasse, and a small, deformed belt along the North Alpine Thrust Front, called Subalpine Molasse. Spanning up to 150 km in N-S direction, the North Alpine Foreland Basin has its widest extent in SE Germany (Bavaria). Here, the physical properties of the Cenozoic basin fill and its underlying Mesozoic passive margin sediments display a high degree of heterogeneity in both the Foreland Molasse and Subalpine Molasse parts. Since 2016, we systematically analysed data from more than 300 deep wellbores, with vertical depths up to 5 km below ground level, to understand the distribution and interplay of these heterogeneities: We used minimum stress magnitude measurements such as formation integrity and leak-off tests in combination with geophysical borehole measurements such as density and velocity to infer the distribution of lateral and vertical stresses in the SE German part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. Collection of pore pressure indicators and measurements such as drilling mud weights, drilling problems, well tests and wireline formation tests and their correlation with vertical stress and sediment compaction allowed us to also infer the regional distribution of pore pressure and to model the variable styles of deformation of the Subalpine Molasse along the North Alpine Thrust Front. In this contribution, we give a graphical overview of how stress, pore pressure and deformation are linked and driven by sediment composition and compaction. We also set our findings into context with high frequency, large amplitude variations of temperature and fluid flow patterns, proposing an updated model for the distribution and interference of physical properties and processes in the North Alpine Foreland Basin in SE Germany.

How to cite: Drews, M., Duschl, F., Mahmoodpour, S., Aconcha, E., Breitsameter, J., Obermeier, P., Shatyrbayeva, I., Babaie, P., Tomsu, C., and Einsiedl, F.: Stress, pore pressure, sediment compaction, deformation, temperature and fluid flow in the SE German part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-10051, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-10051, 2025.