Basement Reactivation, Rifting and Sedimentary Basin Development on the Continental Shelf and Margin of NW Europe: Evidence from BIRPS Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling

Abstract

Deep seismic reflection and refraction profiling provides the most direct method of imaging basement structures and the relationship between basement structure and basin development. The technique has been successfully used to discriminate between pure and simple shear mechanisms of sedimentary basin formation, by providing the fundamental geometrical relationships between basement faults and the distribution of syn- and post-rift sedimentary sequences. It is the only technique available capable of uniquely characterising the thickness and properties of the continental basement, and therefore provides constraints for thermo-mechanical modelling of the lithosphere. Since 1984 BIRPS has acquired an extensive grid of deep seismic reflection profiles over the United Kingdom and Ireland continental shelf and continental margin. These data can now be used to synthesize the basement structure of the continental shelf of NW Europe and determine its effects on both intracontinental rifts, such as the North Sea, and on passive margin development in the NE Atlantic.