Crustal structure of the central and southern North Sea from BIRPS deep seismic reflection profiling

Abstract

Through the generous gift of shiptime on M/V Mobil Search in June 1987, BIRPS (British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate) was able to acquire nearly 1500 km of deep seismic profiles recorded to 16s TWT in a regional survey across the central and southern North Sea. Reflective lower crust beneath the southern North Sea basin gives way laterally to a zone of mid-crustal reflections within the London–Brabant platform. These mid-crustal reflectors are interpreted as due to crustal shearing, although whether related to stretching during basin formation or to some earlier event remains enigmatic. Sub-crustal, SW-dipping reflections are observed at the edge of the London–Brabant platform. Across the mid-North Sea High, N–S profiles show distinctive patterns of lower-crustal reflectivity that indicate lateral variability in structure and character on a scale of 30–50 km. These are interpreted as crustal units relating to the Iapetus suture developed during the Caledonian orogeny. They may have been modified, however, during Carboniferous basin development, or subsequently. The absence of any distinctive sub-crustal reflectors associated with the Iapetus Suture, where a Caledonian subduction zone should have existed, tends to suggest that sub-crustal reflections observed elsewhere around Britian are not subduction related but are more likely to be from younger faults or shear zones relating to lithosphere extension and basin formation. Onshore wide-angle recording in northern England of the marine seismic source produced good quality data. The high resolution obtained has revealed details of mid-crust (PcP) and Moho (PmP) reflections, from around 18 and 30 km depth respectively, not observed before in this area. Both reflectors show events of laterally variable reflectivity that appear as bands of discontinuous reflection segments.