Recent developments in imaging the earth’s crust by deep seismic data beneath the eastern parts of the Pannonian Basin

The first multicoverage, low-frequency deep reflection surveys in the Pannonian Basin were initiated in the late 1980s and were focused to southeast Hungary, where hydrocarbon and geothermal reserves were known. Deep seismic profiles (Pannonian Geotraverse transects) were shot according to the standards of hydrocarbon exploration data acquisition parameters to get information from the deep crust and the upper mantle. At the turn of the millennium, the international CELEBRATION 2000 deep seismic survey provided a large-scale velocity model of the Pannonian Basin and its surroundings. The substantial coverage of the collected data set enabled carrying out a detailed 3D velocity tomography study in northeast Hungary. In recent years, deep reflection data recorded in southeast Hungary became available from the oil and gas industry and several regional profiles were reprocessed and interpreted, which intersect the Pannonian Geotraverse transects. Along those lines, amplitude-preserving data processing with prestack depth migration was used to integrate new information into the existing geologic model. We aimed to evaluate recent results obtained from previous and new deep reflection data as well as from the 3D velocity tomography implemented beneath the eastern part of the Pannonian Basin. The mapped crustal scale features were incorporated into the previous geologic model. The updated model may help us to gain a better understanding of the peculiar crustal characteristics of this part of the Pannonian Basin and also provide information for hydrocarbon and geothermal potential assessments.