The Atlantic Margin from Norway to Ireland: geological review of a frontier continental margin province

Abstract

The deep-water Atlantic Margin of NW Europe is a lightly explored frontier province. During the past six years there has been a modest level of exploration drilling with mixed results. However, a lot of new geological and geophysical data has helped in the understanding of the crustal structure and the tectonostratigraphic development of the region. The 27 papers in this thematic section illustrate a cross-section of the new information and ideas and highlight remaining questions regarding the geological development and petroleum prospectivity of the region. Geophysical data provide evidence for depth-dependent stretching across the continental/oceanic margin and in several of the deep-water basins. However, the associated thermal anomalies and volcanism are still poorly understood. New drilling results from the margins of the Rockall Basin prove the presence of Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata. Together with geophysical data, well results demonstrate that the Cenozoic evolution was accompanied by significant tectonism. Examples of new fields illustrate the petroleum potential and remaining risks in the region. A number of key uncertainties and remaining questions centre on the mechanisms of passive margin basin formation. These basins, characterized by significant crustal thinning, appear to differ in their formation and in their structural and sedimentary character, from low-extension, conventional intra-plate basins. The resultant thermal history and play types are also different.