Petroleum geology and basin development on the North West Seaboard

Abstract

Report of a meeting of the British Sedimentological Research Group of the Geological Society held at the Queen's University of Belfast on 25–28 September 1990. The organizers were J. Parnell and B. Monson. There is currently much interest in the extensive series of basins stretching from west of Shetland through the Hebrides to Northern Ireland and the west coast of Ireland. Each of these regions has seen drilling activity as part of hydrocarbon exploration programmes. The meeting was convened to review research into the development of basins of Carboniferous to Tertiary age on the northwestern seaboard of the British Isles. Twenty eight papers were presented, followed by a two-day field excursion to examine basins in the north of Ireland. W. I. Mitchell (Geological Survey, N. Ireland) discussed the evolution of Carboniferous basins in north west Ireland, and particularly of the Fintona Block, a series of fault-bounded tracts of Devonian—Carboniferous red beds. The northwards migration of the early Carboniferous marine transgression was associated with a sequential propagation of back-stepping faults and the development of diachronous facies belts of Courceyan-Arundian age. M. E. Philcox (Consultant, Co. Wicklow), G. Clayton, G. D. Sevastapulo and H. Baily reported stratigraphic data for the Dinantian Lough Allen Basin in north west Ireland, incorporating information from a gas exploration programme by Aran Energy. Basin evolution was partially fault-controlled, and some faults were later reactivated during Hercynian deformation. B. Mown (Queen's Univ., Belfast) presented a reconstruction for the burial history of Carboniferous rocks in north west Ireland