The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether fishing in southern Scandinavia may have created conditions for a sedentary lifestyle. This would contradict the current image of the Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence. The image of Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence is in a dichotomous relationship in contrast to Late mesolithic fishing subsistence, which leads to fishing amongst Early mesolithic cultures being overlooked. A dichotomous relationship has also appeared between the mesolithic and neolithic way of life, where the mesolithic attributes as nomadic hunter-gatherers are in contrast to sedentary neolithic farmers. Underwater archaeology has not until recently focused on Early mesolithic settlement. Recent discoveries in the south-eastern Sweden can indicate that fishing would have been a more central part of the Early Mesolithic society than previously assumed.

An extensive multi-channel seismic dataset acquired between 1970 and 1990 by Oljeprospektering AB (OPAB) has recently been made available by the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU). This thesis summarizes four papers, which utilize this largely unpublished dataset to improve our understanding of the geology and CO2 storage capacity of the Baltic and Hanö Bay basins in southern Sweden. A range of new processing workflows were developed, which typically provide an improvement in the final stacked seismic image, when compared to the result obtained with the original processing. A method was developed to convert scanned images of seismic sections into SEGY files, which allows large amounts of the OPAB dataset to be imported and interpreted using modern software. A new method for joint imaging of multiples and primaries was developed, which is shown to provide an improvement in signal to noise for some of the seismic lines within the OPAB dataset. For the first time, five interpreted regional seismic profiles detailing the entire sedimentary sequence within these basins, are presented. Depth structure maps detailing the Outer Hanö Bay area and the deeper parts of the Baltic Basin were also generated. Although the overall structure and stratigraphy of the basins inferred from the reprocessed OPAB dataset are consistent with previous studies, some new observations have been made, which improve the understanding of the tectonic history of these basins and provide insight into how the depositional environments have changed throughout time. The effective CO2 storage potential within structural and stratigraphic traps is assessed for the Cambrian Viklau, När and Faludden sandstone reservoirs. A probabilistic methodology is utilized, which allows a robust assessment of the storage capacity as well as the associated uncertainty. The most favourable storage option in the Swedish sector of the Baltic Basin is assessed to be the Faludden stratigraphic trap, which is estimated to have a mid case (P50) storage capacity of 3390 Mt in the deeper part of the basin, where CO2 can be stored in a supercritical phase.