Abstract
Cenozoic subsidence patterns in the south-western Barents Sea, punctuated by periods of uplift and erosion, deviate from thermal subsidence patterns predicted by stretching models of basin formation. Three regional seismic lines crossing the south-western Barents Sea show that a substantial amount of erosion occurred at the shelf, whereas at the margin a thick wedge of Cenozoic sediments has been observed. Quantitative basin modelling of the profiles allows different mechanisms for erosion and uplift to be tested. The modelling shows that the Palaeocene-Early Eocene flank uplift during rifting and Late Neogene intraplate stresses, superimposed on a Middle Miocene sea-level change and Pliocene-Quaternary (de)glaciation, play a major role in the development of the Late Cenozoic stratigraphy. Stress-induced uplift of flank areas could augment the regional uplift of Scandinavia, possibly leading to climatic changes such as the onset of cooling and glaciation. Intraplate stresses, related to plate boundary processes in the North Atlantic realm, also have important implications for the depth of the hydrocarbon window in the south-western Barents Sea.
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