The Crustal Stress Field of Germany - A Refined Prediction

The Crustal Stress Field of Germany - A Refined Prediction | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Crustal Stress Field of Germany - A Refined Prediction Steffen Ahlers, Luisa Röckel, Tobias Hergert, Karsten Reiter, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1128920/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Information about the absolute stress state in the upper crust plays a crucial role in the planning and execution of e.g., directional drilling, stimulation and exploitation of geothermal and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Since many of these applications are related to sediments, we present a refined geomechanical-numerical model for Germany with focus on sedimentary basins, able to predict the complete 3D stress tensor. The lateral resolution of the model is 2.5 km, the vertical resolution about 250 m. Our model contains 22 units with focus on the sedimentary layers parameterized with individual rock properties. The model results show an overall good fit with magnitude data of the minimum (S hmin ) and maximum horizontal stress (S Hmax ) that are used for the model calibration. The mean of the absolute stress differences between these calibration data and the model results is 4.6 MPa for S hmin and 6.4 MPa for S Hmax . In addition, our predicted stress field shows good agreement to several supplementary in situ data from the North German Basin, the Upper Rhine Graben and the Molasse Basin. Economic Geology Planetary Science 3D geomechanical–numerical model Stress tensor Stress magnitudes Stress state Upper Rhine Graben North German Basin Molasse Basin Germany Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 09 Dec, 2021 Reviewers invited by journal 09 Dec, 2021 Editor assigned by journal 02 Dec, 2021 First submitted to journal 30 Nov, 2021 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-1128920","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":69030572,"identity":"d857a575-f349-4c12-8106-99e4fc81d461","order_by":0,"name":"Steffen Ahlers","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9094-0116","institution":"Institute of Applied Geosciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Steffen","middleName":"","lastName":"Ahlers","suffix":""},{"id":69030573,"identity":"f093b20d-a46e-405f-a314-d62833a16787","order_by":1,"name":"Luisa Röckel","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luisa","middleName":"","lastName":"Röckel","suffix":""},{"id":69030574,"identity":"7733a753-056a-47ca-bd06-96a03eb044a1","order_by":2,"name":"Tobias Hergert","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universitat Darmstadt","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tobias","middleName":"","lastName":"Hergert","suffix":""},{"id":69030575,"identity":"fa4b0219-b08b-4630-8d86-606ea40a9e09","order_by":3,"name":"Karsten Reiter","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universitat Darmstadt","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Karsten","middleName":"","lastName":"Reiter","suffix":""},{"id":69030576,"identity":"ba7ad244-15b7-49e6-9a10-c967e9b13f00","order_by":4,"name":"Oliver Heidbach","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Deutsches Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oliver","middleName":"","lastName":"Heidbach","suffix":""},{"id":69030577,"identity":"7a7ec161-fb62-440c-b7f6-5955bab7df1e","order_by":5,"name":"Andreas Henk","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technische Universitat Darmstadt","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andreas","middleName":"","lastName":"Henk","suffix":""},{"id":69030578,"identity":"3cdc41df-cc79-4ba5-b0b9-db5f8d756a23","order_by":6,"name":"Birgit Müller","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Birgit","middleName":"","lastName":"Müller","suffix":""},{"id":69030579,"identity":"b9dbc0cf-684e-49e2-877e-f915557bc6ba","order_by":7,"name":"Sophia Morawietz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Deutsches Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sophia","middleName":"","lastName":"Morawietz","suffix":""},{"id":69030580,"identity":"965096d3-0b68-461a-9cf0-e01b129725a7","order_by":8,"name":"Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Deutsches Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Magdalena","middleName":"","lastName":"Scheck-Wenderoth","suffix":""},{"id":69030581,"identity":"55267dc2-811d-4d07-9f7e-81cdfbc783b3","order_by":9,"name":"Denis Anikiev","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Deutsches Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Denis","middleName":"","lastName":"Anikiev","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-11-30 18:27:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-1128920/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1128920/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":16399031,"identity":"6360e7f2-1b59-413e-8fec-4e2979135839","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-12-13 15:07:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5515322,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Versionvfinal20211130.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1128920/v1_covered.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eThe Crustal Stress Field of Germany - 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Since many of these applications are related to sediments, we present a refined geomechanical-numerical model for Germany with focus on sedimentary basins, able to predict the complete 3D stress tensor. The lateral resolution of the model is 2.5 km, the vertical resolution about 250 m. Our model contains 22 units with focus on the sedimentary layers parameterized with individual rock properties. The model results show an overall good fit with magnitude data of the minimum (S\u003csub\u003ehmin\u003c/sub\u003e) and maximum horizontal stress (S\u003csub\u003eHmax\u003c/sub\u003e) that are used for the model calibration. The mean of the absolute stress differences between these calibration data and the model results is 4.6 MPa for S\u003csub\u003ehmin\u003c/sub\u003e and 6.4 MPa for S\u003csub\u003eHmax\u003c/sub\u003e. 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