Abstract: Continental lithospheric buckling in southern North Sea

UNTERNEHR, PATRICK*, and JEAN VAN DEN DRIESSCHE

Graben inversion in Northern Europe has been demonstrated since three decades. In North Sea, most of tectonic interpretations consider that Upper Cretaceous to Early Tertiary compression is essentially responsible for graben inversion.

However, seismic investigations and well data in southern North Sea show that sedimentation pattern, during the Upper Cretaceous, was influenced by large-scale folding. Fold wavelength in order of 100 km and 200 km can be demonstrated south and north of the Mid North Sea high, respectively. Fold amplitude varies from 2 km to 4 km.

This strongly suggests (1) that compressive tectonics were not restricted to basin inversion but involved crustal and/or lithospheric buckling and (2) that crustal rheology differs apart from the Mid North Sea High.

Kinematics reconstruction and attitude of fold axes argue for a close connection between North Atlantic opening and compression in southern North Sea during the Upper Cretaceous.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria