Jurassic thermal doming and deflation in the North Sea: implications of the sequence stratigraphic evidence

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. UNDERHILL ◽  
M. A. PARTINGTON
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Thermal Doming

Volcanogenic clays in Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of England and the North Sea Basin

Clay Minerals ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. V. Jeans ◽  
D. S. Wray ◽  
R. J. Merriman ◽  
M. J. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Clay Minerals ◽  
Clay Mineral ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
Mineral Deposits ◽  
The North ◽  
Clay Deposits ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Thermal Doming

AbstractThe nature and origin of authigenic clay minerals and silicate cements in the Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments of England and the North Sea are discussed in relation to penecontemporaneous volcanism in and around the North Sea Basin. Evidence, including new REE data, suggests that the authigenic clay minerals represent the argillization of volcanic ash under varying diagenetic conditions, and that volcanic ash is a likely source for at least the early silicate cements in many sandstones. The nature and origin of smectite-rich, glauconite-rich, berthierine-rich and kaolin-rich volcanogenic clay mineral deposits are discussed. Two patterns of volcanogenic clay minerals facies are described. Pattern A is related to ash argillization in the non-marine and marine environments. Pattern B is developed by the argillization of ash concentrated in the sand and silt facies belts in the seas bordering ash-covered islands and massifs. It is associated with regression/ transgression cycles which may be related to thermal doming and associated volcanism, including the submarine release of hydrothermal fluids rich in Fe. The apparent paucity of volcanogenic clay deposits in the Jurasssic and Early Cretaceous sediments of the North Sea is discussed.

scholarly journals A revised lithostratigraphy for the Palaeogene – lower Neogene of the Danish North Sea

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Poul Schiøler ◽  
Jan Andsbjerg ◽  
Ole R. Clausen ◽  
Gregers Dam ◽  
Karen Dybkjær ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
The North ◽  
Reference Sections ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Stratigraphic Nomenclature

Intense drilling activity following the discovery of the Siri Field in 1995 has resulted in an improved understanding of the siliciclastic Palaeogene succession in the Danish North Sea sector (Fig. 1). Many of the new wells were drilled in the search for oil reservoirs in sand bodies of Paleocene–Eocene age. The existing lithostratigraphy was based on data from a generation of wells that were drilled with deeper stratigraphic targets, with little or no interest in the overlying Palaeogene sediments, and thus did not adequately consider the significance of the Palaeogene sandstone units in the Danish sector. In order to improve the understanding of the distribution, morphology and age of the Palaeogene sediments, in particular the economically important sandstone bodies, a detailed study of this succession in the Danish North Sea has recently been undertaken. An important aim of the project was to update the lithostratigraphic framework on the basis of the new data.The project was carried out at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) with participants from the University of Aarhus, DONG E&P and Statoil Norway, and was supported by the Danish Energy Agency. Most scientific results cannot be released until September 2006, but a revised lithostratigraphic scheme may be published prior to that date. Formal definition of new units and revision of the lithostratigraphy are in preparation. All of the widespread Palaeogene mudstone units in the North Sea have previously been formally established in Norwegian or British wells, and no reference sections exist in the Danish sector. As the lithology of a stratigraphic unit may vary slightly from one area to another, Danish reference wells have been identified during the present project, and the lithological descriptions of the formations have been expanded to include the appearance of the units in the Danish sector. Many of the sandstone bodies recently discovered in the Danish sector have a limited spatial distribution and were sourced from other areas than their contemporaneous counterparts in the Norwegian and British sectors. These sandstone bodies are therefore defined as new lithostratigraphic units in the Danish sector, and are assigned Danish type and reference sections. There is a high degree of lithological similarity between the Palaeogene–Neogene mudstone succession from Danish offshore boreholes and that from onshore exposures and boreholes, and some of the mudstone units indeed seem identical. However, in order to acknowledge the traditional distinction between offshore and onshore stratigraphic nomenclature, the two sets of nomenclature are kept separate herein. In recent years oil companies operating in the North Sea have developed various in-house lithostratigraphic charts for the Paleocene–Eocene sand and mudstone successions in the Danish and Norwegian sectors. A number of informal lithostratigraphic units have been adopted and widely used. In the present project, these units have been formally defined and described, maintaining their original names whenever feasible, with the aim of providing an unequivocal nomenclature for the Palaeogene – lower Neogene succession in the Danish sector. It has not been the intention to establish a sequence stratigraphic model for this succession in the North Sea; the reader is referred to the comprehensive works of Michelsen (1993), Neal et al. (1994), Mudge & Bujak (1994, 1996a, b), Michelsen et al. (1995, 1998), Danielsen et al. (1997) and Rasmussen (2004).

Tectonostratigraphic framework and depositional history of the Cretaceous–Danian succession of the Danish Central Graben (North Sea) – new light on a mature area

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. S. P. van Buchem ◽  
F. W. H. Smit ◽  
G. J. A. Buijs ◽  
B. Trudgill ◽  
P.-H. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Depositional Facies ◽  
Depositional History ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Stratigraphic Analysis ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Depositional Systems

AbstractAn integrated tectonic and sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Cretaceous and Danian of the Danish Central Graben has led to significant new insights critical for our understanding of the chalk facies as a unique cool-water carbonate system, as well as for the evaluation of its potential remaining economic significance.A major regional unconformity in the middle of the Upper Cretaceous chalk has been dated as being of early Campanian age. It separates two distinctly different basin types: a thermal contraction early post-rift basin (Valanginian–Santonian), which was succeeded by an inversion tectonics-affected basin (Campanian–Danian). The infill patterns for these two basin types are dramatically different as a result of the changing influence of the tectonic, palaeoceanographic and eustatic controlling factors.Several new insights are reported for the Lower Cretaceous: a new depositional model for chalk deposition along the basin margins on shallow shelves, which impacts reservoir quality trends; recognition of a late Aptian long-lasting sea-level lowstand (which hosts lowstand sandstone reservoirs in other parts of the North Sea Basin); and, finally, the observation that Barremian–Aptian sequences can be correlated from the Boreal to the Tethyan domain. In contrast, the Late Cretaceous sedimentation patterns have a strong synsedimentary local tectonic overprint (inversion) that influenced palaeoceanography through the intensification of bottom currents and, as a result, the depositional facies. In this context, four different chalk depositional systems are distinguished in the Chalk Group, with specific palaeogeography, depositional features and sediment composition.The first formalization of the lithostratigraphic subdivision of the Chalk Group in the Danish Central Graben is proposed, as well as an addition to the Cromer Knoll Group.

scholarly journals Stratigraphic correlation of the Danish onshore and offshore Tertiary successions based on sequence stratigraphy

1994 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Olaf Michelsen
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Stratigraphic Correlation ◽  
Offshore Area ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
The North ◽  
Shallow Wells ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Thickness Variations ◽  
Major Sequence

The results of a sequence stratigraphic study of the Tertiary sedimentary succession in the Danish North Sea sector, and the adjacent parts of the Norwegian, German, and Dutch sectors are reviewed in the present paper. Lithology and thickness variations of seven major sequence stratigraphic units, comprising twentyone sequences, are shortly described. The chronostratigraphic and genetic relationships between the North Sea sequences and the Danish onshore lithostratigraphic formations are emphasized. Six major sequence stratigraphic boundaries are pointed out, being time-equivalent with regional unconformities in the onshore area. The six surfaces bound five sedimentary packages, which are isochronous in their recognized lateral extension, and comprise genetically related deposits. It is suggested to define the five units as allostratigraphic units, and thus to create a stratigraphic subdivision, which is mappable in the southeastern North Sea region, possibly in the main part of the North Sea. The five allostratigraphic units can be identified in all areas by the available data; seismic sections and logs in the offshore area, and lithology in onshore outcrops and shallow wells. The definition of an allostratigraphic scheme would create a common nomenclature across the national borders and the present coastlines, and hopefully increase the accuracy of the chro­nostratigraphic correlation between profiles in the North Sea region.

scholarly journals Early Oligocene dinocysts as a tool for palaeoenvironment reconstruction and stratigraphical framework – a case study from a North Sea well

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasia K. Śliwińska
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
Stratigraphic Framework ◽  
Local Sequence ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Sequence Boundaries

Abstract. The lower Oligocene (Rupelian) successions are climate record archives of the early icehouse world in the Cenozoic. Even though the number of studies focussing on the generally cold Oligocene is increasing, little is known about climatic variations in the mid-latitudes to high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. One of the major obstacles is the lack of stratigraphically complete uppermost Eocene to Oligocene successions in these regions. This study focusses on dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) from a thick nearly complete Rupelian succession in the Syracuse Oils Norge A/S well 11/10-1 drilled in 1969 in the Norwegian part of the North Sea basin. The well provides a record of mid-latitude dinocyst assemblages, which yield key biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental information. All the analyses were undertaken on ditch cutting samples. The dinocyst assemblages confirm that the well penetrates about 600 m of Rupelian sediments and (as supported by correlation with the Nini-1 well) that the lowermost Rupelian (below the top or the last occurrence of Areosphaeridium diktyoplokum) is expanded. These assemblages also indicate the presence of two hiatuses: the first extends from the Lutetian to the Priabonian (equivalent to the D9nb–D12nb zones), and the second spans the Rupelian–Chattian boundary (equivalent to the D14nb subzone or the NSO-5 zone). Despite the risk of caving, the dinocyst assemblages support the existing sequence stratigraphic framework. The assemblages reflect a clear transition from distal to proximal deposition in the vicinity of the site (across the regional seismic sequences OSS-1 – OSS meaning Oligocene seismic sequence – to OSS-2). The proximal deltaic deposits of the OSS-2 regressive system tract (RST) are characterised by pulses of high sea-surface productivity and pronounced shifts in the dinocyst assemblages, reflecting a highly dynamic environment in a restricted marine to marginal marine setting. The Rupelian succession penetrated by well 11/10-1 yields one new species, Areoligera? barskii sp. nov., which is described here in detail. The cold-water-tolerant dinocyst Svalbardella cooksoniae is present in two intervals in the studied succession. These intervals are related to the early Oligocene cooling maxima (the Oi-1a and the Oi-2 events). Furthermore, these two intervals correlate with two local sequence boundaries, suggesting that they are most probably of glacioeustatic origin. From these observations, I postulate that the early icehouse climate played an important role in the depositional development of the Oligocene succession in the North Sea basin. Even though the Eocene–Oligocene transition interval is not complete (i.e. Lutetian to Priabonian is either missing or condensed), well 11/10-1 merits high-resolution studies of the early icehouse climate for the North Sea region. Although any detailed studies should ideally be undertaken on conventional cores instead of ditch cuttings, no such samples spanning the Eocene–Oligocene transition exist in this area.

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