The Permo-Carboniferous Oslo Rift through six stages and 65 million years

Abstract

The Oslo Rift is the northernmost part of the Rotliegendes basin system in Europe. The rift was formed by lithospheric stretching north of the Tornquist fault system and is related tectonically and in time to the last phase of the Variscan orogeny. The main graben forming period in the Oslo Region began in Late Carboniferous, culminating some 20-30 Ma later with extensive volcanism and rifting, and later with uplift and emplacement of major batholiths. It ended with a final termination of intrusions in the Early Triassic, some 65 Ma after the tectonic and magmatic onset. We divide the geological development of the rift into six stages. Sediments, even with marine incursions occur exclusively during the forerunner to rifting. The magmatic products in the Oslo Rift vary in composition and are unevenly distributed through the six stages along the length of the structure.