Deep drilling on the Faeroe Islands

A 2178 m deep well was drilled in 1981 at Lopra on Suduroy into the oldest and non-exposed parts of the Lower Tertiary Faeroe Island basalt plateau. The drilled sequence consists of thick subaerial lavas and thin tuffaceous sediments and is very similar to the lower part of the exposed sequence. Secondary minerals indicate a fossil temperature of about 200°C at the bottom of the well. The present gradient is about 25°0 km. Migrated hydrocarbons suggest the presence of non-volcanogenic sediments at deeper levels.