The rise and fall of the Faroe–Shetland Basin: evidence from seismic mapping of the Balder Formation

Abstract

Seismic mapping of the Faroe–Shetland Basin from three-dimensional surveys provides striking evidence for uplift of the southern Faroe–Shetland Basin in the late Palaeocene and rapid subsidence in the early Eocene. The seismic reflector at the base of the Balder Formation follows a regional unconformity surface, which records erosion of a major branching drainage network into the underlying Palaeocene section, following a major base level fall. The topography of this surface was subsequently in-filled following marine transgression, and deep-water conditions returned to the basin in the early Eocene. We attribute base level changes to the influence of the proto-Iceland mantle plume beneath the lithosphere, providing support until continental break-up west of the Faroe Islands.

Onset of North Atlantic Deep Water production coincident with inception of the Cenozoic global cooling trend

“…Clinoform geometries of adjacent slope depositional systems (Smallwood and Gill, 2002) suggest that the JFD formed in the axis of the basin in >450 m of water. The JFD inter digitates with base-of-slope fans along the southeast margin of the basin (Robinson et al, 2004) …”

Diagenesis and reservoir quality evolution of palaeocene deep-water, marine sandstones, the Shetland-Faroes Basin, British continental shelf

“…However, Smallwood and Gill (2002) have provided evidence that some parts of the SFB might have been exposed to the surface during uplift. Furthermore, there are two lines of petrographic evidence, which suggest that kaolinite is of eogenetic rather than of telogenetic origin, include (i) considerable expansion texture of kaolinitized micas to fill adjacent pores and vermicular habit, which typically imply formation in poorly compacted sandstones prior to significant burial (Ketzer et al, 2003;Wilkinson et al, 2004a, b) and (ii) the engulfment of kaolinite by quartz overgrowths and the transformation of kaolinite into dickite ( Fig.…”

Cenozoic vertical motions in the Moray Firth Basin associated with initiation of the Iceland Plume

“…In the northern Viking Graben, Paleocene uplift of 280-430 m has been measured [Nadin and Kusznir, 1995]. Late Paleocene uplift of the Faroe-Shetland Basin is estimated to have been at least 200 m, inferred from the seismic character of the Balder erosion surface [Smallwood and Gill, 2002], and up to 800 m from subsidence analysis [Nadin et al, 1997]. Regionally, the amplitude of the Paleogene transient uplift event appears to have been greater in the basins to the northwest of the British Isles, than in the North Sea rift basins.…”