A structural transect between the central North Sea Dome and the South Swedish Dome: Middle Jurassic-Quaternary uplift-subsidence reversal and exhumation across the eastern North Sea Basin

Abstract

Abstract The Jurassic-Cenozoic structural evolution of the eastern North Sea Basin is influenced by the central North Sea Dome, the Danish Megablock, the Tornquist Zone and the South Swedish Dome. The central North Sea Dome is a composite dome comprising the Triple Junction Dome, the Central Graben Dome and the Friesland Dome. The Danish Megablock, newly recognized here, is a first-order tectonic element between the Central Graben and the Tornquist Zone. In Jurassic-Cretaceous time it was tilted towards the east during uplift of the Central Graben Dome, whereas the movement was reversed during the Cenozoic post-rift subsidence. Contemporaneous with the westward tilting of the Danish Megablock, the South Swedish Dome was uplifted to the east. The uplift-subsidence reversal across the eastern North Sea Basin links the collapse of the Central Graben Dome and the tilt reversal of the Danish Megablock with the uplift of the South Swedish Dome. The uplift followed by subsidence probably involved mass flow in the asthenosphere to account for the observed balance between post-rift subsidence and marginal uplift. The model explains the uplift of both the South Swedish Dome and southern England as the result of Cenozoic post-rift subsidence of the Mesozoic Central Graben Dome.