KTB Borehole Measurements Data - Data collection

This data collection compiles the KTB Borehole Measurements Data of the German Continental Deep Drilling Program operated by the GFZ - German Research Centre for Geosciences. Extensive borehole measurements were performed during the active drilling phase of the KTB pilot and main hole. All KTB borehole measurements are described in detail in the Scientific Technical Report - Data 21/03 "KTB Borehole Logging Data" (Kück et al. 2021). The terms borehole measurements, downhole logging, and logging are used synonymously here.

The KTB logging data files contain the final processed versions of the geoscientific borehole logging data from logs in the two KTB boreholes:

• KTB-Oberpfalz VB (KTB Vorbohrung/Pilot Hole or KTB-VB)
• KTB-Oberpfalz HB (KTB Hauptbohrung/Main Hole or KTB-HB).

Here only the acronyms KTB-VB and KTB-HB are used. In total there are 145 logging data files from the KTB-VB and 239 logging data files from the KTB-HB. The data compilation comprises the following measurements:

• Borehole geometry and orientation logs
• Composite logs (compilation of standard logs of resistivity, gamma spectrum, density, neutron porosity, sonic)
• Geochemical logs
• Gravimetry logs
• Magnetic susceptibility and field logs
• Spontaneous potential and induced polarization (SP and IP) logs
• Structures from borehole images, foliation, fracs, faults, joints
• Temperature logs

The maximum logging depth was 4001 m in the KTB-VB and 9085 m in the KTB-HB. There is no sonic waveform data available. There is no electrical or acoustic borehole wall image data available. However, the spatial orientation of planar structures (foliation, faults, fractures, joints) gained by manual sinus structure picking from these electrical images are included.

General Information about the KTB Program

The KTB (Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) was the German Continental Deep Drilling Program with drilling operations from 1989 to 1994. Two boreholes, one 4 and the other 9.1 km deep, served as a telescope into the earth's interior to allow for in-situ observation of physical and chemical processes and calibration of surface experiments.

One of the major goals of the KTB was the elucidation of structure and evolution of the interior zones in a former mountain chain. The drill site near Windischeschenbach, (NE Bavaria, Germany) is at the structural boundary between the Saxothuringian and Moldanubian, two major tectonostratigraphic units of the Hercynian fold belt of the Variscan Orogen in Central Europe. This boundary was regarded as a suture zone formed by the closure of a former oceanic basin c. 320 million years ago. This process gave way to a continent-continent collision and the formation of a mountain chain comparable to the today's extension of the Himalayan mountain chain. Today, the high mountain relief is eroded and, therefore, once deeply buried rocks are exposed at the surface. Therefore, this area is an ideal place for the study of deep-seated crustal processes. Furthermore, detailed geophysical surface experiments during pre-site survey studies revealed that the drill site is characterized by an anomalous high electrical conductivity and pronounced gravimetric and magnetic anomalies at drillable depth of about 10 km.

Key questions to be addressed by continental deep drilling include the evaluation of fundamental processes occurring in the lithosphere, the outer skin of our planet and resource base for mankind. KTB's major research topics were:
• Evaluation of geophysical structures and phenomena
• Investigation of the thermal structure of the continental crust
• In-situ investigation of rock-fluids and their contribution to formation of ore deposits
• Elucidation of structure and evolution of the continental crust
• Determination of the earth's stress field
Furthermore, the establishment of a long-term depth laboratory was an initial goal of the KTB which has been realized by the GFZ – German Research Centre for Geosciences since 1996.

The KTB drilling and research activities formed a German key contribution to worldwide efforts on understanding our planet and supported the founding of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, ICDP.

Surface and sample investigations have shown that the rock pile drilled is a steeply dipping highly deformed orogenic stack whose major amphibolite facies overprint is of Caledonian age. Late-stage Tertiary faulting created the current block structure while the Hercynian impact such as granitic intrusions is minor. Borehole logging, tests and key experiments have revealed a higher than expected geothermal gradient of 28°/km with about 270°C and close to ductile conditions at 9100 m, a variable and close-to-fail stress regime in accord with models, and a large reservoir of saline deep fluids existing in a fracture-dominated reservoir down to at least 9 km depth.