Cross-border megasequence stratigraphy of the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea: a comparative tectono-stratigraphic synthesis

2021 ◽  
pp. SP494-2020-228
Author(s):  
Stefano Patruno ◽  
Henk Kombrink ◽  
Stuart G. Archer
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
First Order ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Basin Fill

AbstractThe Devonian-Recent tectono-stratigraphic history of the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea is here reviewed at a regional scale and four novel cross-border pseudo-Wheeler diagrams are presented to summarize the stratigraphic evolution of the cycles of basin fill and uplift/erosion. In this scheme, six first-order megasequence boundaries have been defined, characterized by extensive and long-lasting erosional hiatuses and major coastal regressions: (1) Caledonian (or Base Devonian) Unconformity; (2) Variscan-Saalian (or Base Permian) Unconformity; (3) Mid Cimmerian (or Intra-Aalenian) Unconformity; (4) Late Cimmerian (or Base Cretaceous) Unconformity; (5) Atlantean (or Near-Base Tertiary) Unconformity; (6) Eridanos (or Mid-Miocene) Unconformity. These surfaces have been linked to regional causal factors ranging from: orogenesis-related compressional uplifts, in either active plate margin settings (1) or foreland basin settings (2); intra-plate dynamically supported uplifts associated with the development of mantle plumes (3, 5 and 6); the end-of-rifting and associated widespread erosion of tilted fault block crests (4).The aforementioned megasequence boundaries punctuate the geodynamic evolution of the North Sea area and facilitate the sub-division of the entire the North Sea sedimentary basin fill into six megasequences, named here from A to F. All the lithostratigraphic units of the North Sea (formations and members) have been described within the context of this first-order tectono-stratigraphic framework. The correlation power of certain stratigraphic markers are also compared and contrasted, together with the potential cross-border equivalence of sedimentary units on different sides of the political median lines.

scholarly journals The Size of Diatoms II. Further Observations on Rhizosolenia styliformis (Brightwell)

1946 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Wimpenny
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Indicator Species ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
Auxospore Formation ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Antarctic

1. Diameter measurements of Rhizosolenia styliformis from the Antarctic, the subtropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and from the North Sea and neighbouring waters have made it appear necessary to set up two varieties, oceanica and semispina, in addition to the type of the species R. styliformis. The type as I describe it has been called var. longispina by Hustedt, but elsewhere it has often been figured as the var. oceanica of this paper. Var. semispina is synonymous with the form represented by Karsten as R. semispina Hensen. It differs from R. semispina as drawn by Hensen and its synonym R. hebetata forma semispina Gran, but is thought likely to be linked by intermediates. If this is so R. hebetata may have to be extended to include and suppress R. styliformis, as var. semispina is linked to the type by intermediates. Var. oceanica has no intermediate forms and, if R. hebetata is to be extended, this variety should be established as a separate species.2. Var. oceanica is absent from the southern North Sea and appears to be an indicator species related to oceanic inflow.3. Auxospore formation was observed for the type in the southern North Sea in 1935 and biometric observations suggest that a period of 3-4 years elapsed between the production of auxospore generations in that area. Outside the southern North Sea for the type, measurements give no indication of auxospore generations occurring at intervals exceeding a year. While auxospore formation has been seen in var. oceanica from the Shetlands area samples of June 1935 and July 1938, this phenomenon has not been observed for var. semispina.

scholarly journals The impact of sedimentary alkalinity release on the water column CO<sub>2</sub> system in the North Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 841-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Brenner ◽  
U. Braeckman ◽  
M. Le Guitton ◽  
F. J. R. Meysman
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Zone ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Co2 Uptake ◽  
Overlying Water ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Alkalinity Generation ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. It has been previously proposed that alkalinity release from sediments can play an important role in the carbonate dynamics on continental shelves, lowering the pCO2 of seawater and hence increasing the CO2 uptake from the atmosphere. To test this hypothesis, sedimentary alkalinity generation was quantified within cohesive and permeable sediments across the North Sea during two cruises in September 2011 (basin-wide) and June 2012 (Dutch coastal zone). Benthic fluxes of oxygen (O2), alkalinity (AT) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were determined using shipboard closed sediment incubations. Our results show that sediments can form an important source of alkalinity for the overlying water, particularly in the shallow southern North Sea, where high AT and DIC fluxes were recorded in near-shore sediments of the Belgian, Dutch and German coastal zone. In contrast, fluxes of AT and DIC are substantially lower in the deeper, seasonally stratified, northern part of the North Sea. Based on the data collected, we performed a model analysis to constrain the main pathways of alkalinity generation in the sediment, and to quantify how sedimentary alkalinity drives atmospheric CO2 uptake in the southern North Sea. Overall, our results show that sedimentary alkalinity generation should be regarded as a key component in the CO2 dynamics of shallow coastal systems.

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).

Marine Growth on North Sea Fixed Steel Platforms: Insights From the Decommissioning Industry

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chadi Mallat ◽  
Alistair Corbett ◽  
Glyn Harris ◽  
Marc Lefranc
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Insight Into

It is reputed in the Oil & Gas industry that marine growth is overestimated in the North Sea. Can we quantify this overestimation to better tackle the challenges marine growth incurs? This paper provides insight into the intrinsic and diverse nature of marine growth. It documents the biofouling development and the factors that affect it globally. Focus is made on fixed steel platforms in the North Sea approaching the end of their economic lives. A methodology to quantify the weight of marine growth is proposed and illustrated. 28 years after its installation, the weight of marine growth accumulated on Valhall 2/4G jacket located in Southern North Sea is evaluated based on the proposed method. It is confirmed that the current regulations overestimate the weight of marine growth in the North Sea.

scholarly journals Investigations Upon the Water Movements in the English Channel. Summer, 1924

1927 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
English Channel ◽  
Average Speed ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Westerly Winds ◽  
The North Sea

In July, 1924, 250 floating, and an equal number of bottom-trailing, bottles were put out at selected places in the western English Channel. Fifty of each type were put out at each of the two routine Stations E2 and E3, and the same number was “liberated” at each of three selected stretches along the steamship route from Southampton to St. Malo. Those surface bottles, which did not strand locally, travelled rapidly up Channel towards the North Sea and across it. Many bottles arrived in the Skager-Rack after performing their journey of some 700 miles at the rate of 6 miles a day and more. An adequate study of wind conditions, as recorded at several stations along the length of the Channel and at one station in the southern North Sea, revealed the fact that there was, for some 5½ months (counting from the time of liberation of the bottles), an almost uninterrupted predominance of south-westerly winds—as recorded at all stations considered. The whole area of the Channel was swept by south-westerly winds of average speed of some 9 miles a day for at least 5½ months subsequent to the time of putting out of the bottles. July, 1924, had (according to the Falmouth Observatory records) the largest proportion of westerly winds experienced for 54 years; 20 days of this month had winds with westerly components. The association of the unusually persistent westerly winds with the rapid travel of surface bottles towards and across the North Sea is interesting.

scholarly journals Warm-water decapods and the trophic amplification of climate in the North Sea

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 773-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Lindley ◽  
G. Beaugrand ◽  
C. Luczak ◽  
J.-M. Dewarumez ◽  
R. R. Kirby
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Climate Signal ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Ecosystem Shift ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Water Species

A long-term time series of plankton and benthic records in the North Sea indicates an increase in decapods and a decline in their prey species that include bivalves and flatfish recruits. Here, we show that in the southern North Sea the proportion of decapods to bivalves doubled following a temperature-driven, abrupt ecosystem shift during the 1980s. Analysis of decapod larvae in the plankton reveals a greater presence and spatial extent of warm-water species where the increase in decapods is greatest. These changes paralleled the arrival of new species such as the warm-water swimming crab Polybius henslowii now found in the southern North Sea. We suggest that climate-induced changes among North Sea decapods have played an important role in the trophic amplification of a climate signal and in the development of the new North Sea dynamic regime.

Shallow marine Lower and Middle Miocene deposits at the southern margin of the North Sea Basin (northern Belgium): dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and depositional history

2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. LOUWYE ◽  
J. DE CONINCK ◽  
J. VERNIERS
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Depositional History ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Dinoflagellate Cyst ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Margin ◽  
The North Sea

Detailed dinoflagellate cyst analysis of the Lower–Middle Miocene Berchem Formation at the southernmost margin of the North Sea Basin (northern Belgium) allowed a precise biostratigraphical positioning and a reconstruction of the depositional history. The two lower members of the formation (Edegem Sands and decalcified Kiel Sands) are biostratigraphically regarded as one unit since no significant break within the dinocyst assemblages is observed. The base of this late (or latest) Aquitanian–Burdigalian unit coincides with sequence boundary Aq3/Bur1 as defined by Hardenbol and others, in work published in 1998. A hiatus at the Lower–Middle Miocene transition separates the upper member (the Antwerpen Sands) from the underlying member. The greater part of the Antwerpen Sands were deposited in a Langhian (latest Burdigalian?)–middle Serravallian interval. The base of this unit coincides with sequence boundary Bur5/Lan1. Biostratigraphical correlation points to a diachronous post-depositional decalcification within the formation since parts of the decalcified Kiel Sands can be correlated with parts of the calcareous fossil-bearing section, up to now interpreted as Antwerpen Sands. The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages are dominated by species with a inner neritic preference, although higher numbers of oceanic taxa in the upper part of the formation indicate incursions of oceanic watermasses into the confined depositional environment of the southern North Sea Basin.

scholarly journals Pyritized diatoms: a good fossil marker in the Upper Paleocene-Lower Eocene sediments from the Belgian and Dieppe-Hampshire Basins

2004 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Van Eetvelde ◽  
C. Dupuis ◽  
C. Cornet
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Strong Increase ◽  
Lower Eocene ◽  
The North ◽  
Carbon Isotope Excursion ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
Abundance Peak ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Central North Sea ◽  
Upper Paleocene

AbstractAssemblages of brackish and marine diatoms have been examined from Upper Paleocene-Lower Eocene strata of the Belgian Basin (Knokke well) and the Dieppe-Hampshire Basin (Saint-Josse borehole and Ailly sections). The diatoms observed are invariably preserved in pyrite as internal moulds and their siliceous skeletons are completely replaced by pyrite by epigenesis. Three major diatom assemblages have been observed which can be used to approximate the position of the recently defined Paleocene-Eocene boundary (defined by the Carbon Isotope Excursion). This isotope excursion occurs just below the strong increase in the abundance of Fenestrella antiqua and in the vicinity of the abundance peak of Coscinodiscus morsianus var. moelleri. They also allow correlations of the lithostratigraphic units of the Belgian Basin with the formations of the Dieppe-Hampshire and central North Sea Basins. For instance, investigations of diatoms recorded in the Knokke Clay Member of the Knokke well indicate that this unit corresponds to the lower units of the ‘Sparnacian facies’ of the Dieppe-Hampshire Basin and to the Sele Formation of the North Sea Basin.

scholarly journals Structural outline and development

1982 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 9-26
Author(s):  
Claus Andersen ◽  
Jens Christian Olsen ◽  
Olaf Michelsen ◽  
Erik Nygaard
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Moray Firth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Broad Complex ◽  
East West ◽  
German Basin

The Central Graben is a broad, complex trough with a long history of differential subsidence. It was probably initiated in the Permian and was controlled by major rifting during the Mesozoic. To the south in the Dutch sector the trough is divided into two parts. From here it passes northwards and divides the southern North Sea Basin into the Anglo-Dutch Basin and the Northwest German Basin. It also separates the Mid North Sea High from the Ringkøbing-Fyn High. These highs form broad, east-west trending, relative stable ridges. The further continuation of the Central Graben is to the northwest, towards the centre of the North Sea, where it passes into the Viking Graben and the Moray Firth Basin at about 58° N. Where the Central Graben divides the two major highs, there is an elongate central narrow horst, the Dogger High, which is the southernmost of a row of mid-Graben highs. Both sides of the Graben are clearly defined by normal rotational faults that were intermittently active from Triassic to Early Cretaceous times.

scholarly journals Modelling survival and connectivity of <i>Mnemiopsis leidyi</i> in the southern North Sea and Scheldt estuaries

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1561-1611 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. van der Molen ◽  
J. van Beek ◽  
S. Augustine ◽  
L. Vansteenbrugge ◽  
L. van Walraven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Particle Tracking ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Mnemiopsis Leidyi ◽  
Biogeochemical Model ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Particle Tracking Model ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Tracking Model

Abstract. Three different models were applied to study the reproduction, survival and dispersal of Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Scheldt estuaries and the southern North Sea: a high-resolution particle tracking model with passive particles, a low resolution particle tracking model with a reproduction model coupled to a biogeochemical model, and a dynamic energy budget (DEB) model. The results of the models, each with its strengths and weaknesses, suggest the following conceptual situation: (i) the estuaries possess enough retention capability to keep an overwintering population, and enough exchange with coastal waters of the North Sea to seed offshore populations; (ii) M. leidyi can survive in the North Sea, and be transported over considerable distances, thus facilitating connectivity between coastal embayments; (iii) under current climatic conditions, M. leidyi may not be able to reproduce in large numbers in coastal and offshore waters of the North Sea, but this may change with global warming – however this result is subject to substantial uncertainty. Further quantitative observational work is needed on the effects of temperature, salinity and food availability on reproduction and on mortality at different life stages to improve models such as used here.

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