BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS 
VOL. 18, NO. 1 (JANUARY, 1934), PP. 69-96. 11- FIGS. 
MAGNETIC AND TORSION-BALANCE SURVEY OF 
MUNICH TERTIARY BASIN, BAVARIA! 
DONALD C. BARTON? 
Houston, Texas 
ABSTRACT 
The Munich Tertiary basin consists of a structural basin of Tertiary sediments. 
It is bounded on the east by the Bohemian crystalline massif; on the north by Mesozoic 
sediments which dip southward under it; and on the south, it has been overridden by 
the Alpine overthrusts. The whole Bavarian part of the basin has been covered by a 
close net of lines of observation of the vertical component of magnetism. Two torsion- 
balance lines were run north-south across the basin, and some additional cross lines 
were run. The geophysical survey indicates: (1) the surface of the crystalline basement 
dips southwestward across under the Tertiary basin; (2) the Bohemian crystalline mas- 
sif seems to dip under the Austrian continuation of the Tertiary basin, to connect with 
the crystalline core of the Austrian Alps; (3) the Bohemian massif seems to have a 
sharp subsurface scarp on the southward prolongation of the Regensburg fault; (4) the 
basement under the Tertiary sediments is not the crystalline basement, but presumably 
the surface of a wedge of Mesozoic rocks; (5) the crystalline core of the Vendelician 
ridge must be south of the present Munich Tertiary basin; (6) a line of hitherto un- 
surmised structures with basaltic cores lies along the Danube from Vohburg to Ulm; 
(7) the cause of most of the residual magnetic anomalies is not clear, but the Passau 
axis of the maximum seems to reflect structure with the basement; (8) no folding is 
indicated parallel with the front of the Alps. 
INTRODUCTION 
This paper presents the more broadly interesting results of an 
extensive magnetic survey and a less extensive torsion-balance sur- 
vey which were made of the Munich Tertiary basin by the Bayerische 
Mineral Industrie A. G. in the search for possibly petroliferous struc- 
ture. The execution of the surveys was under the immediate super- 
vision of E. Gundermann. The field torsion-balance observations of 
the reconnaissance traverses were made under contract by ‘‘Seismos’”’ 
Gesell.G.m.b.H. of Hannover. The field magnetic observations were 
made by O. Keunecke, G. Meyer, and W Wolff, and G. Sander under 
the supervision of Gundermann. Gene: -] direction from a distance 
and interpretation of the results of the geophysical surveys were by 
the writer. The whole program of the Bayerische Mineral Industrie 
was under the direct supervision of J. Elmer Thomas. 
1 Read before the Geophysics Division of the Association at the Houston meeting, © 
March 24, 1933. Part of this paper was read before the XVI International Geological 
Congress at Washington, D. C., July, 1933. Published by permission of J. Elmer 
Thomas, Bayerische Mineral Industrie A. G. A more detailed description of the survey 
and more extensive discussion of the results is to be published by the Geologische Ab- 
teilung, Bergamt, Bayern. 
2 Consulting geologist and geophysicist, Petroleum Building. 
eD 591 
