The pre-Permian residual gravity field for the Dutch onshore and adjacent offshore

The current paper presents the results of a 3D analysis of the contribution of successive sedimentary layers within the Netherlands basin to the total observed gravity anomaly field. A 3D gravity back-stripping technique is used to highlight anomalous features in the crust and upper mantle beneath the Permian and younger sedimentary succession. A residual gravity anomaly map, derived by subtracting the gravity effect of the sedimentary succession from the observed gravity anomaly field, reveals a distinctive continuous positive gravity anomaly trending NW-SE across the Netherlands that increases in amplitude towards the north-northwest, concordant with increasing sediment thickness. One profile crossing the main residual anomaly has been quantitatively modelled using a 2D inverse modelling program, the residual anomaly can be explained as the result of sources beneath the post-Carboniferous sedimentary succession, either in the crust or at the crust-mantle boundary. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.