The results of the 1978 SONNE survey by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), in the Coral Sea indicated the presence of narrow rift valleys beneath the outer margins of the Queensland and Papuan Plateaus. On the margins of these valleys, features were observed which were then interpreted to be large fossil reefs underlying an Eocene/Oligocene unconformity. These conclusions were important because they indicated that the Coral Sea Basin region is ideal for research into the fundamental problems concerning the development of continental margins. That is, the region offers similar problems to areas of the world where detailed studies are currently being conducted (e.g. West African margin) but with less complicated superimposed structure and a much thinner sediment cover. During the period from 29th November 1980 to 9th January 1981 a 'follow up' survey on the first and second leg of cruise SO-16 using the R/V SONNE was carried out in the northern Coral Sea, around the margins of the Coral Sea Basin, by the BGR in co-operation with the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Canberra (BMR) and the Geological Survey of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby (GSPNG). The survey, which was divided into a geophysical cruise (first leg of SO-16) and a geological sampling cruise (second leg of SO-16), resulted in the recording of about 7,140 km of bathymetric and gravimetric data, of about 6,950 km of magnetic data, 3,150 km of digital multichannel seismic reflection profiles, 3,560 km of analogue single channel seismic reflection profiles, 10 sonobuoy refraction profiles and the sampling of 16 stations by dredging and 9 by coring. In the period from 9th January to 6th February 1981, geophysical investigations on the 3rd leg of SONNE cruise SO-16 were carried out in the Arafura Sea between Tanimbar, Aru and Kai Islands, and in the southern part of the Makassar Strait by BGR in co-operation with the Geological Research and Development Centre, Dept. Mines and Energy of Indonesia, Bandung and the Indonesian lnstitute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung. 4,060 km of bathymetric and gravity lines, 3,080 km of magnetic lines, 1,415 km of reflection seismic lines (digital and analogue), and 9 sonobuoy profiles were recorded during this leg. Objectives of the Arafura Sea survey were determination of (a) thickness, seismic pattern, tectonic style and subsidence of the Cenozoic/Mesozoic depositional sequences at the transition from the Australian continental shelf to the Tanimbar outer arc ridge and (b) the configuration of the Precambrian rocks of the above mentioned transition zone. Objectives of the Makassar Strait survey were determination of (a) the nature and configuration of the acoustic basement underlying the South Makassar Basin, (b) the formation and nature of the sediments overlying the acoustic basement, (c) the regional distribution of a major unconformity of assumed Middle Miocene age as observed on profile VA16-24 of the VALDIVIA cruise VA-16 in 1977 in order to get a better understanding of the development of the South Makassar Basin.

During METEOR-Westafrica cruise 46, leg 1, geophysical measurements were carried out off Morocco between 31°30'N and 32°30'N in the time period from the 8th October to the 5th November 1977. Altogether 1,855 km of 24-fold reflection seismic data were collected on lines ME46-02 to ME46-11 and on lines ME46-14 to ME46-19. For the purpose of planning the programme, the reflection seismic data were processed (12-fold stack) aboard. 3,465 km of magnetic, gravimetric and bathymetric data were collected on lines ME46-01 to ME46-26 using the new BGR digital recording system. Along lines ME46-101 and ME46-102 with a total length of 209 km refraction seismic measurements were carried out with 6 moored telemetric buoys. A total of 164 shots with charges of 5 kg up to 200 kg were fired along the two lines in distances of about 1.5 km. A distinct fault zone was discovered in the area of investigation which is associated with a positive magnetic anomaly. The fault zone strikes NNE-SSW and probably marks the ocean-continent boundary. Beside diapiric structures (salt) allochthonous structures - thrust structures - are widespread features east of the discovered fault zone and below the lower continental slope. The seismic data indicate that the evolution of the old continental margin of the East Atlantic was also controlled by large scale gravity tectonics.

In the southwestern part of the Sulu Sea and in the southeastern part of the South China Sea, between NW Palawan and the northwestern part of the Reed Bank the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover carried out the geophysical survey BGR84 from 11th October, 1984 to 23rd November, 1984. This work was done in close cooperation with the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences (BMG), Manila, using the German seismic vessel EXPLORA chartered from PRAKLA-SEISMOS GmbH, Hannover. Multichannel reflection seismic measurements were carried out on 40 lines with a total length of 4,467 km simultaneously with magnetic measurements on 19 lines with a total length of 3,047 km. The Oligocene to lower Miocene Nido-carbonates of the South China Sea that have been proven during the SONNE cruises SO-23 and SO-27 beneath the allochthonous and chaotically deformed complex which was overthrusted from the Sulu Sea terrane, could be correlated up to the Balabac Straits. The three major unconformities of the Sulu Sea, unconformity A (Early Pliocene), unconformity B (mid Middle Miocene) and unconformity C (lower Middle Miocene) have been correlated over extensive areas by tying into the Sulu Sea well Coral-1. In the Sulu Sea reflection horizon C forms the top of a chaotic bedded rock complex and presumably represents an equivalent to the unconformity "Red" of the South China Sea, in the west of Palawan. There, the unconformity "Red" forms the surface of a highly deformed rock complex which has been interpreted as an allochthonous mass accumulation (HINZ, 1983; HINZ & SCHLÜTER, 1985). It is assumed that pronounced magnetic anomalies, approximately 140 - 160 km off NW Palawan as well as a change in the reflection seismic pattern of the acoustic basement, associated with diapiric structures which are interpreted as intrusions represent the ocean-continent boundary in this part of the South China Sea. In the Reed Bank area the basement type which is interpreted as continental crust (transitional crust?) extends as far as 160 km to the northwest, towards the South China Sea Basin. The northern part of the Reed Bank is characterized by intense downfaulting and rotated fault blocks with reef complexes ontop. In contrast to results from the Dangerous Grounds of the previous SONNE cruises, the deeper lying coherent reflections could be recognized in the monitor records off the northwestern Reed Bank area. It might be that these parts of the Reed Bank block consists of metamorphized and/or highly consolidated rocks of pre-Tertiary age which originally formed part of the Chinese back country, and which was effected by previous orogenies prior to the rifting of the proto-China continental margin.

The aims of cruise SO197 RISE (Rift Processes in the South China Sea) with RV SONNE from Manila, 28th March 2008 to Singapore, 2nd May 2008 are (1) To gain a better understanding of the processes leading to continental breakup and subsequently formation of oceanic crust. (2) To study the evolution of the South China Sea oceanic basin. The South China Sea is particularly well suited for studying rift processes at the transition from extension of continental lithosphere to the formation of oceanic crust. This relatively young marginal basin is currently in a stadium which is characterised by still preserved differences in subsidence and thermal history resulting from rifting. The initial, complex and hardly quantifiable rift processes, however are long enough ago. The area under study comprises the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea, the West Luzon Basin and the transition area from oceanic crust to extended continental crust between the continental blocks of Reed Bank and the islands of Palawan/Calamian Group. By including existing data of earlier cruises (SO-23, -27, -49) a comparison of conjugated margin transects is intended later within the project. A major goal of the project is to study structures at the transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading and processes resulting from extension of continental lithosphere to the formation of oceanic crust in time and space. The sequence stratigraphy of the synrift and drift sediments will give insights into the formation and evolution of the individual rift basins. The distribution and thickness of the postrift sediments on the continental fragment of the NW Palawan area define the subsidence history. The depth and topography of the Moho show the location of the stretched and thinned crust. By a joint interpretation of the structural setting, the position, distribution and architecture of the basin bounding faults a reasonable rift model will be derived. In addition, we will investigate the transition of a passive rifted margin (off Palawan) to a convergent margin (off Luzon). The timing of the evolution of the South China Sea basin will be more exactly determined by comparing the magnetic anomalies from the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea with existing data from the central/western basin. Particularly the question of a symmetric/asymmetric opening of the oceanic basin and the timing and location of the individual rift/drift episodes will be investigated. Therefore, we investigated rift structures at the southeastern margin of the South China Sea by means of reflection seismology, gravity, magnetics, bathymetry and sediment echosounder and we performed magnetic measurements to identify seafloor spreading anomalies in the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea.

The METEOR cruise M20/3 from 4th February to 13th March 1992 had two scientific objectives: One research topic was to study the variability of the Mesozoic oceanic crust along two flow-line profiles located north of the Kane and Hayes Fracture Zones. The other research topic was the investigation of the weak magnetic anomalies in the Jurassic magnetic quiet zone north of the Canary Islands. Seismic data with a coverage of 2,400 % were acquired together with magnetic, gravimetric and hydroacoustic data along the two flow-line profiles with a total length of 1,595 km. Magnetic, gravimetric and hydroacoustic measurements were carried out on 31 profiles with a total length of 6,069 km in the Jurassic quiet zone north of the Canary Islands. On 10 of these lines multichannel seismic reflection data (2,138 km) have been acquired.

From 24th November 1998 to 24th February 1999 BGR in cooperation with YPF (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales) and SHN (Servicio de Hidrografía Naval) conducted three seismic surveys along the passive continental margin of Argentine. The seismic vessel M/V Akademik Lazarev which is operated by SMNG (Sevmorneftegeofizika) was used for these cruises. Although the seafloor spreading history of the South Atlantic Ocean is very well defined, the development of the continental margins poses still great problems to a profound understanding. When break-up of Gondwana started in Middle Jurassic, South Africa and South America remained connected. Their break-up started in Early Cretaceous, possibly propagating from south to north. Before break-up, huge tholeiitic flood basalts were extruded near the future rift, namely the Paraná basalts in Brazil and the Etendeka basalts in Namibia. It is likely that these basalts are caused by a large mantle plume. As the flood basalts were predecessors to the break-up, often a causal relationship is assumed. The dipping reflector sequences along large parts of the continental margins of South America and South Africa are interpreted as indications of the plume influence. Investigations along many passive margins have meanwhile shown that dipping reflector sequences exist along most of them. These so-called volcanic margins are the normal ones, the non-volcanic margins are the exception. For many years, it had been assumed that the hydrocarbon potential of volcanic margins is very low. The discovery of the Kudu gas field has demonstrated that this assumption is not valid in general. This increases our interest in continuing the investigation of volcanic passive margins and the variability of their structure along strike. BGR has carried out already two marine geophysical cruises off Argentina, namely with M/V EXPLORA in 1985 and with FS SONNE in 1993. These surveys had shown locally the existence of threefold dipping reflector sequences (Hinz et al., 1999). Furthermore, it had turned out that not everywhere they are accompanied by the strong magnetic G anomaly (Rabinowitz & LaBrecque, 1979). The main objectives of the BGR98 cruise were: (1) Investigation and mapping of the zone of the seaward dipping reflectors (SDR) (reflection + refraction seismic) (2) Investigation of the sedimentary column within this zone (reflection seismic) (3) Setting up a seismostratigraphy based on the seismic records obtained during the cruise and the information from the previous cruises (BGR87, SO85) as well as on additional well information (4) Comparison of the argentine seismic data with seismic data of the conjugate volcanic margin off Namibia (BGR 87). The study area is located offshore Argentine, extending from about 37° 20' S to 45° 40' S and from about 61° 10' W to 52° 00' W. It comprises the Colorado Basin as well as the outermost shelf, slope and rise of the continental margin with water depths up to 5000 m.

In the period from September 25th to October 19th 1979 5,260 km of magnetic, gravity and bathymetric lines and 3,567 km of reflection seismic lines were recovered on the first leg of the VALDIVIA Westafrica-cruise 1979 with the research objective to study similarities and differences in the geological development of physiographically different Northwest African continental margin segments. Test measurements have been carried out during this cruise with an “implosive" seismic sound source. The software for acquisition, calculation and presentation of gravity, magnetic and bathymetric data has been developed so that onboard presentation of free-air anomalies, Bouguer anomalies, anomalies of the earth's magnetic field and of the bathymetry could be achieved. Differences within the regional geological development of the Northwest African continental margin has been confirmed. Parts of the Moroccan continental margin are modified by a Cretaceous epirogenic uplift associated with block—faulting and halokinesis. Tertiary folding of the Western High Atlas extends into the shelf of the Tafelney Plateau segment.

Reconnaissance surveys were carried out in 1975 within the framework of the BGR program "Geoscientific studies in the North Atlantic". The data format is Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG Y. The areas covered were the continental margin of Spitsbergen, the Barents Sea and the Norwegion continental margin. On the vessel LONGVA (30th August, 1975 - 29th September, 1975) multichannel seismic measurements were carried out on 37 lines with a total length of 2,815 km.

During the period from 1974 to 2018 various cruises from BGR acquired seismic lines worldwide. The aim of these marine expeditions was a detailed survey of the geological structure.

The late Tertiary and Quaternary development of the German EEZ was systematically inverstigated by seismic profiling. The data format is Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG Y. For that survey the privately owned motor vessel AURELIA was chartered for a period of 24 days from the 16th of September to 10th of October 2003. A more or less equidistant E-W and N-S grid of profiles with a length of 2500 km was surveyed by high-resolution multichannel seismic system. A 0.82 litre GI-Gun was employed every 12.5 m and the reflected signals were recorded by a 300 m long streamer. Simultaneously a deep-towed HUNTEC-Boomer or a GEO-Sparker was run (150km/620km). All seismic records were processed onboard for the quality control and for a first interpretation.