Structural properties of Ba-induced reconstructions on a Ge(001) surface, based on atomic-resolution ultra high-vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy measurements, are discussed. It is shown that while the Ba - Ge layer, which fully covers the surface, is dominated by a phase with an internal 2 x 3 periodicity, it also includes portions of higher order 2 x 6 and 4 x 3 surface reconstructions, always accompanied by 1D protrusions embedded into the dominating phase. Modelling the observed higher order structures, using the elementary cell of the 2 x 3 phase calculated within the density functional theory, is shown to reproduce the experimental data very well. As such the higher order reconstructions can be treated as local defects of the dominating 2 x 3 phase. (c) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.