Campanian to Palaeocene biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in the Foula Sub-basin, west of the Shetland Islands, UK

T J H A Van Den Akker,M A Kaminski,J Wood,F M Gradstein

doi:10.1144/jm.19.1.23

Abstract

Abstract. For a detailed biostratigraphic framework of the Foula Sub-basin, located west of the Shetland Islands (UK continental shelf), well 205/10-2B is chosen as a reference section. Based on the succession of last occurrence events of nominate taxa, ten stratigraphically distinct Campanian to Palaeocene assemblages are described. The regional applicability of these events is tested by correlation between three wells in the Foula Sub-basin (wells 205/10-2B, 206/3-1 and 206/5-1). Despite some local differences, the biostratigraphy of the Foula Sub-basin compares well with the biostratigraphy of the Western Tethys and the northern North Sea, and is therefore an important link between the southern and northern areas of the Northeast Atlantic margin. A morphogroup analysis of agglutinating foraminifera in well 205/10-2B indicates deposition of Campanian and Maastrichtian mudstones in a well oxygenated, lower bathyal environment, whereas Palaeocene sediments are deposited in a middle to upper bathyal environment.

Highlights

The Faeroe-Shetland Basin is a deep asymmetric half-graben, situated on the North Atlantic margin, west of the Shetland Islands (Fig. 1)
The chronostratigraphy is based on events reported from the northern North Sea (King, 1989; King et al, 1989; Mudge & Copestake, 1992; Gradstein et al, 1994; Gradstein & Backstrom, 1996), the area west of the Shetland Islands (Ritchie et al, 1996; Knox et al, 1997) and from the Norwegian margin (Gradstein, personal observations)
Palaeocene assemblages are characterized by abundant Haplophragmoides spp., trochamminids, Karrerulina spp., Cribrostomoides spp. and Recurvoides spp

Summary

Introduction

The Faeroe-Shetland Basin is a deep asymmetric half-graben, situated on the North Atlantic margin, west of the Shetland Islands (Fig. 1). The oil industry has shown great interest in the area west of the Shetland Islands due to the discovery of a number of gas and oil fields in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin. Despite the need for a good biostratigraphic framework to date the monotonous successions of mudstones of the Upper Cretaceous Shetland Group, no biozonation scheme for the area west of the Shetland Islands has yet been published. (1996) and Knox et al (1997) have described some faunal events found in the area, which may form the basis for a zonation scheme These events correlate well with those described by King (1989) and King et al (1989) in their zonation schemes for the northern North Sea (Viking Graben and adjacent areas)

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Conclusion