Summary The kinematic understanding of the relationship between relative plate motion and the structure of orogenic belts depends upon a knowledge of relative plate motion across the plate boundary system, the relative motion of small blocks and flakes within the system, an evaluation of orogenic body forces, and an understanding of the thermomechanical evolution of the upper part of the orogenic lithosphere in determining strength and detachment levels. We have built a preliminary model for the Cenozoic kinematic evolution of the western Mediterranean oceanic basins and their peripheral orogens that integrates (1) the motion of Africa relative to Europe based upon a new study of Atlantic fracture zones using SEASAT data and the Lamont-Doherty magnetic anomaly database, (2) a new interpretation of the rotation of Corsica/Sardinia and the opening of the Balearic and Tyrrhenian oceanic basins, (3) sedimentary facies sequences in the Apennines, Calabria, and Sicily, and (4) Apennine/Calabrian structure and structural sequence.

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An integrated approach using plate tectonic analyses and detailed comparative stratigraphy of the North Atlantic has placed new constraints on the Mesozoic to Cenozoic geological history of the Atlantic margin of NW Europe. Key reconstructions from Mesozoic time to the present day have been plotted to show the evolution of the North Atlantic, and in particular the Rockall Trough. The reconstructions show Rockall Plateau attached to Greenland from Late Paleozoic time (380 Ma) to Late Cretaceous time (83 Ma) since when Rockall remained attached to Eurasia. The Rockall Trough probably initiated during end-Carboniferous to Early Permian time and underwent further stretching episodes in the Early Triassic, Early Jurassic, Middle Jurassic, Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, mid-Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to give the present-day Rockall Trough configuration. The Permo-Triassic rift was dominated by oblique opening with a left-lateral component of strike-slip. Jurassic through Early Cretaceous extension was characterized by predominantly left-lateral strike-slip with a minor dip-slip component in the Faeroe basin and north Rockall Trough, and mainly dip-slip extension in central and south Rockall Trough. In Early Cretaceous time (mid-Aptian) the majority of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) Atlantic margin underwent orthogonal opening followed by continued extension in Late Cretaceous to Paleocene time, culminating in the opening of the North Atlantic west Rockall Plateau. The main Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous rift episodes conveniently divide the stratigraphy into pre-, syn- and post-rift megasequences which form gross play fairways along the North Atlantic margin. Analysis of these fairways permits integration of data from both mature (e.g. North Sea) and immature (e.g. North Atlantic margin) exploration provinces and helps provide a consistent, predictive approach to the assessment of future hydrocarbon potential of the frontier basins lying along the North Atlantic margin.

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