Stress model for Germany – Overburden

The KIT subproject’s main objective is the compilation of structural and geomechanical data of the overburden. Therefore, the focus will lie on post-carbon depositional environments and special attention will be paid to sedimentary basins such as the Upper Rhine Valley, the Molasse Basin and the North German Basin. Structural information and geomechanically relevant parameters such as mechanical rock properties or the spatial distribution of pore pressure and stresses will be compiled. The identification of relevant information and the simplification of pre-existing geological models as a basis for geomechanical modelling will pose major challenges. The compiled information will be used for the generation of an overburden model in a way that allows the junction with the basement model that will therefore yield an entire Germany model.

Furthermore, the different effects influencing the stress distribution in the overburden will be modelled in generic models to investigate the lateral and vertical stress transfer.