Investigation of complex shallow geology in the German North Sea with wind farm UHR MCS data

Geophysical data gathered in windfarm development areas is valuable well beyond the need of windfarm construction. It adds greatly to the geologic understanding in these areas, which in turn yields considerable benefits for site characterization in neighbouring areas due to a better understanding of the geological setting. Since the interpretation of glacial geological successions based on seismic sections with sparse ground truth data presents a significant challenge, this contribution aims at integrating some of the more regional geological findings from several wind farm site surveys in the western German North Sea sector. It investigates the appearance of different shapes of glacial valleys, large sand deposits and intercalated marine sediments from interglacial periods in UHR MCS as well as CPT data. The integration of data from large surveyed areas together with a regional understanding of the geological history allows comprehensive interpretation and also predictions about neighbouring areas concerning geotechnical characters of specific units.