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 POLARSTERN cruise ANTVIII/6 from 14. March to 30. April 1990 incorporated an integrated geophysical reconnaissance survey consisting of multichannel seismic measurements in parallel with gravimetric and magnetic measurements. The survey covered the plateaus Maud Rise, Astrid Ridge and Gunnerus Ridge off Queen Maud Land and the oceanic crust in their vicinity. Severe ice and weather conditions allowed seismic work only on the Gunnerus Ridge and on the oceanic crust. Together with previous BGR lines on the Astrid Ridge and the Maud Rise the new data improve considerably the understanding of the area. The main results are: 1. The oldest identified sea-floor spreading anomaly was M11 before the cruise, now it is M24. Thus spreading has begun not only 135 mill. years B.P., but at least 160 mill. years B.P. 2. The Gunnerus Ridge is strongly asymmetric. The mainly weak magnetic anomalies indicate that in contrast to the Astrid Ridge volcanism was not important during its development. 3. The magnetic anomalies are much stronger on the Astrid Ridge and west of it than east of the Astrid Ridge and on the Gunnerus Ridge. 4. The roughness of the basement surface of the oceanic crust varies in a wide range.

From 17th April to 6th June 2003 BGR conducted a marine geophysical cruise between 30°S and 38°S off the Atlantic coast of South Africa. The main research objective was to contribute to a better understanding of the initial breakup and the early opening of the South Atlantic. In continuation of our former work on the South Atlantic continental margins off Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Namibia marine geophysical research (multi-channel seismics, wide-angle refraction seismics, magnetics and gravity) was performed in cooperation with the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA). Multi-channel lines with a total lenght of 3,260 km, and additional 1,365km, with the other geophysical methods were acquired. Combined onshore/offshore refraction seismic work in cooperation with GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (Germany) and the Council for Geoscience (South Africa) was also part of the program.

Reconnaissance surveys were carried out in 1974 within the framework of the BGR program "Geoscientific studies in the North Atlantic". The areas covered were the continental margin of Spitsbergen, the Barents Sea and the Norwegian continental margin. On the R/V LONGVA (10th August, 1974 - 10th September, 1974) multichannel seismic measurements were carried out on 40 lines with a total length of 8,091 km. The data format is Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG Y.

In the frame of the Continental Margin Study Program of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR, Hannover) marine geophysical measurements (48-channel reflection seismic, sono-buoy refraction, gravity and magnetic) were conducted over the Atlantic continental margin of Canada from 23th July to 7th August 1979 with S.V. EXPLORA (BGR79 leg 2). The survey on the Canadian continental margin was planned in cooperation between the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Atlantic Geoscience Centre of the Geological Survey of Canada (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmonth, N.S.) on the base of existing Canadian multichannel seismic lines. A main target of the cruise was to acquire data which allow a comparison of the deep sedimentary basins offshore Nova Scotia with the already known basins offshore Morocco. The eastern part of the survey imaged complex structural deformation due to salt diapirs. The western seismic lines allowed to investigate the structural relationship between the Scotian Basin and the Georges Bank.

The Sonne Cruise SO122 was carried out by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR, Hannover) from 3rd August to 9th September 1997, in cooperation with GEOMAR (Kiel), the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO, Karachi) and the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP). During the joint project with R/V SONNE the Makran accretionary wedge off Pakistan should have been investigated in detail with multi-channel reflection seismics, magnetics and gravimetry. Intense fishery offshore Pakistan forced a change of the area of investigation to the south with the following objectives: investigation of the crustal structure and occurrence of the bottom simulating reflector (BSR) in the Makran accretionary wedge; investigation of the structure of the Murray Ridge System in order to reconstruct the geodynamic evolution of the eastern Indian Plate margin; determination of the origin of the crust underlying the Indus Fan and reconnaissance of the sedimentary history of the Indus Fan in order to reveal the uplift and erosion history of the Himalayas.

SONNE cruise SO-85 was designed to study the variability of the oceanic crustal structure along flow-line profiles over Early Tertiary through Early Cretaceous old crust in the Cape and Argentine basins of the South Atlantic. Between 21th February and 20th April 1993 deep imaging seismic reflection data in parallel with magnetic, gravimetric and hydroacoustic measurements have been collected along a 1,405 km long flow-line traverse across the Cape basin, and along three flow-line traverses across the Argentine basin with a total length of 4,255 km. A special geophysical survey was carried out on the Argentine continental margin. Although bad weather hampered the geophysical measurements in the Argentine basin, some new and intriguing observations were made: (1) the presence of an elongated wedge of seaward dipping reflectors, often associated with the distinct magnetic anomaly 'G', was confirmed on both, the South African and Argentine continental margins; (2) the sequence of seaward-dipping reflectors consists of two wedges. The younger wedge rests partly on the older one; (3) the surface of the oceanic crust lies more deep in the Argentine basin than in the Cape basin; (4) the structure of the oceanic crust is more variable in time and space within the Argentine and Cape basins than within the Angola and Brazil basins; (5) despite this, it appears that the oceanic crust generated during the younger half of the Cretaceous magnetic quiet period up to C 33r is characterized by relative high reflectivity in lower crustal levels; (6) high-amplitude magnetic anomalies C 33 through C 34 are apparently correlatable with oceanic crustal segments characterized by common seismic features, e.g. a smooth and scarped surface of the oceanic crust; (7) an elongated, positive gravity anomaly exists at about 58°E between 43.5°E and 47°E.

The cruise leg MSM09/3 was conducted as a cooperative project between the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Resources (BGR), the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and Dalhousie University. The data format is Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG Y. A geophysical survey covered areas of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait between Greenland and the Canadian Baffin Island. A component of the IPY 2007/08 Lead Project Plate Tectonics and Polar Gateways in the Earth System (PLATES & GATES), this project DAVIS GATE is aimed to develop a tectonic and sedimentary reconstruction of the opening process of this oceanic gateway. Baffin Bay and Davis Strait play an important role in the shallow water exchange from the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean. The plate-tectonic evolution as well as the magmatic history of this region has been sparsely known and required a careful geophysical investigation in order to construct a set of gridded detailed paleotopographic maps for a complete geodynamic reconstruction of this gateway. With a set of three seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection profiles, using ocean-bottom seismometers on 62 stations, as well as multi-channel reflection seismic recordings with a 3000-m long streamer, data were acquired from the sedimentary cover to the deep crust and even from parts of the uppermost mantle. Additional seismic data supplement these profiles and provide insights into the structures of the basement and dominant fault zones such as the Ungava fault system. A parallel running magnetic survey aimed to resolve the temporal evolution of the oceanic crust of Baffin Bay. The extension and subsidence of the continental and transitional crust in the Davis Strait and the evolution of oceanic crust in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay could be investigated with dataset to which continuously recorded gravity anomaly data and sub-bottom profiler data also contribute. This dataset provides the basis of geometrical and physical properties of the crust required for a realistic geodynamic model which will describe the break-up and the ocean basin evolution between Greenland and Canada in terms of detailed paleo-topography.

During the cruise with S.V. EXPLORA within the Ross Sea on the second marine-geophysical expedition of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) to Antarctica, in total 6,745 km of magnetic, gravity and digital reflection seismic lines and additionally 1,400 km gravity lines were acquired in the period from January 10th to March 2nd 1980. On 43 stations sonobuoy refraction measurements have been carried out. The main results are: (1) In the eastern part of the Ross Sea Shelf two striking discontinuities have been identified in the reflection seismics representing gaps in the sediments at the turn-over of the Upper Miocene to the Pliocene (ca. 7 mio years B.P.) and between the Middle and Upper Miocene (ca. 11.5 mio. years B.P.) according to results of DSDP boreholes. (2) In the southern part of the Ross Sea Shelf the basement is uncovered at depths over 700m due to a thrust of the shelf ice recently. (3) A structural unit extends alongside the meridian of 180° separating the Ross Sea into two different geologic regions. This unit is characterised by two basement highs with seismic velocities exceeding 5 km/sec. (4) In relation with the GANOVEX expedition two profiles have been measured off northern Victoria Land which indicate two large faults with a faulting amount of 2 km. Another area is characterised by intrusive and volcanic bodies.

Between 08.11.1999 and 02.12.1999 the active convergent margin off Costa Rica was investigated using the S/V Professor Polshkov. The cruise had three scientific targets. Several seismic profiles in the dip-direction of the subduction zone were acquired to map the general variability of the accretionary wedge. Near the Jaco Scarp, a dense net of seismic profiles using a smaller seismic source should deliver information about the amount of gas hydrates within the shallow sub-surface. In an area of this wedge south of the Quepos Plateau densely spaced seismic lines were measured to prepare an ODP campaign (which was finished in 2011 as IODP Expedition 334).