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.