During cruise BGR79 from 29th June to 3rd September 1979 the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) carried out marine seismic reflection surveys in the three separate areas of the North Atlantic Ocean (Norwegian Sea, Scotian Basin, and U.S. East Coast Area) with S.V. EXPLORA. Simultaneously gravity, magnetic and reflection seismic data were recorded on parts of the lines. In addition, 66 sono-buoys were deployed for seismic refraction data recording on various seismic lines in all three areas. A detailed survey in the Norwegian Sea took place in the time from 29th June to 15th July, 1979 between the southern Vøring Plateau, the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone, the Møre Basin and the Faeroe-Shetland escarpment during leg 1 of cruise BGR79. The data showed that the Møre Basin contains a small sub-basin in the western part, the West-Shetland Basin. Further seaward, an outer high as well as a zone of intrusions were imaged.
The data files belong to a 3D structural model which covers the Vøring and Møre basins offshore Norway. In addition, a part of the exposed Fennoscandian Caledonides in the south-east and an oceanic crustal domain are covered by the model.
The constructed 3D model is 490 km wide and 660 km long with a horizontal grid spacing of 2500 m, and a vertical resolution corresponding to the number of integrated layers. The lithospheric-scale 3D structural model includes 14 layers:
(1) sea water;(2) upper Neogene (post-middle Miocene) sediments;(3) middle-upper Paleogene-lower Neogene (pre-middle Miocene) sediments;(4) lower Paleogene (Paleocene) sediments;(5) oceanic layer 2AB (basalts);(6) Upper Cretaceous (post-Cenomanian) sediments;(7) Lower Cretaceous (preCenomanian) sediments;(8) pre-Cretaceous sediments;(9) continental crystalline crust;(10) oceanic layer 3A;(11) high-density zones within the continental crystalline crust;(12) oceanic layer 3B;(13) high-density bodies within the lower continental crystalline crust;(14) lithospheric mantle.
The thicknesses of the layers correspond to apparent thicknesses. In addition, data for earth surface topography is provided in the file: 0_Topography.dat.Model coordinates are based on the UTM 33 Zone (Northern Hemisphere) using the WGS 84 datum. The data format is ASCII and contains three columns (X, Y and Z), where X and Y are geographical coordinates (X = longitude, Y = latitude); Z (in m) is thickness of the layer or structural depth (base of layer) or surface elevation. The grid of each layer consists of 196 cells in W-E direction and 265 cells in S-N direction. The grid limits are the following: Xmin = -222590 and Xmax = 267410; Ymin = 6892200 and Ymax = 7552200. The vertical datum of the 3D model refers to the mean sea level. Organisation of data files: Data are organised in two folders (“Bases” and “Thicknesses”); data for earth surface topography (in case of water: sea level) is in the root folder: 0_Topography.dat.
The folder “Bases” contains 14 data files named according to the model layers as outlined above. The folder “Thicknesses” contains 14 data files named according to the model layers as outlined above.