Late Cenozoic palaeogeography of the eastern North Sea Basin: climatic vs tectonic forcing of basin margin uplift and deltaic progradation

Abstract

The late Eocene to middle Pleistocene development of the eastern North Sea Basin is described by a series of palaeogeographic maps. The maps are based on published information integrated with recent investigations of seismic and well data from the eastern North Sea. The maps provide overviews of the basin geometry at late Eocene, late Oligocene, middle Miocene, late Miocene, late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene time. In post-Eocene time, the eastern and central North Sea Basin was progressively filled by large deltas, which built out from the eastern basin margin. These deltas were fed by ancient rivers from southern Norway (late Paleocene-Oligocene and Pliocene), southern Norway and Sweden (early Miocene), the Baltic region (middle Miocene-early Pleistocene), and finally by rivers flowing northward through the northwest European lowland (middle Pleistocene). It is argued that the Cenozoic evolution of the eastern North Sea Basin may be explained by a ‘self-perpetuating’ passive model. This model involves isostatic uplift of source areas due to erosional unloading of a relief generated by early Palaeogene uplift. The erosional unloading accelerated at the Eocene/Oligocene transition, in the middle Miocene and in the Plio-Pleistocene corresponding to periods of global climatic cooling and long-term eustatic lowering as indicated by δ18O records. The passive model diminishes the need for hypothetical Neogene tectonic events, although the influence of tectonic events cannot be excluded. Previous estimates of Neogene uplift and erosion of the northeastern Danish North Sea of the order of 500–1000 m do not agree with seismic geometries or with the regional palaeogeographic development. This indicates that previous estimates of Neogene uplift and erosion of the northeastern Danish North Sea may be several hundred metres too high.