--> A Sequence Stratigraphic Correlation of Paleogene Northwest European Outcrops and Central North Sea Subsurface Deposits, by J. E. Neal and P. Vail; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: A Sequence Stratigraphic Correlation of Paleogene Northwest European Outcrops and Central North Sea Subsurface Deposits

J.E. Neal, P. Vail

A sequence stratigraphic analysis of well log, seismic, and biostratigraphic data from the Central North Sea has documented a pattern of cyclic sedimentation seen in the physical stratigraphy and biostratigraphy for the Paleogene of this area. Research by numerous authors on outcrop sections from similar aged basins in Northwest Europe have also documented cyclic sedimentation related to transgressions and regressions of the sea. Integration of the subsurface and outcrop data using sequence Stratigraphic first principals and multiple sources of biostratigraphic information, standardized by the graphic correlation method has produced a chronostratigraphic correlation framework for the Paleogene of Northwest Europe.

In the North Sea, five major regressions and their intervening major transgressions control sedimentary fill of the basin during the Paleogene with 19 higher frequency sequence cycles and basin physiography controlling depositional systems tract and lithofacies distribution. In Northwest Europe, western basins (London-Hampshire, Paris, and Belgian) have shallow marine to nonmarine settings which reveal basinward and landward facies shifts that indicate sea level changes. The problem of correlating these shallow water deposits and their biostratigraphy to deep water deposits with different biostratigraphy has been addressed by correlating a North Sea biostratigraphic framework to deep water deposits outcropping in Denmark and penetrated with cored boreholes. Once a biostratigraphic fra ework joining the subsurface and outcrops is built, key bounding surfaces are correlated between basins using sequence stratigraphic principals. The result is a chronostratigraphic chart emphasizing long and short term sea level changes that addresses correlation and depositional systems questions.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994