Cenozoic post-rift sedimentation off northwest Britain; recording the detritus of episodic uplift on a passive continental margin

The Cenozoic sedimentary basins on the Atlantic margin of northwest Britain contain a remarkable record of tectonically influenced post-breakup sedimentation. We have mapped the distribution and quantified the solid grain volume of four unconformity-bound successions in the region, the Eocene (∼6-8×...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2010-07, Vol.38 (7), p.595-598
Main Authors: Stoker, Martyn S, Holford, Simon P, Hillis, Richard R, Green, Paul F, Duddy, Ian R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Basins
Cenozoic
continental margin sedimentation
detrital sedimentation
Eocene
Europe
Faeroe-Shetland Basin
Geophysics
Great Britain
marine sediments
Neogene
North Atlantic
Norwegian Sea
Oceanography
Paleogene
passive margins
periodicity
Plate tectonics
post-tectonic processes
Quaternary
Rockall Plateau
sedimentary basins
Sedimentary geology
sedimentation
Sedimentation & deposition
sediments
Seismology
solid Earth (tectonophysics)
Tertiary
unconformities
United Kingdom
uplifts
Western Europe
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Summary:The Cenozoic sedimentary basins on the Atlantic margin of northwest Britain contain a remarkable record of tectonically influenced post-breakup sedimentation. We have mapped the distribution and quantified the solid grain volume of four unconformity-bound successions in the region, the Eocene (∼6-8×104 km3), Oligocene (∼2×104 km3), Miocene-lower Pliocene (∼4-5×104 km3) and lower Pliocene-Holocene (∼4-5×104 km3), complementing previous work on the Paleocene succession. Of the total Cenozoic sediment volume on the Atlantic margin of northwest Britain, ∼80% was deposited in Eocene and later time. The relative volumes of the Cenozoic succession do not support previous claims that the Paleocene was the main period of Cenozoic uplift and erosion of sediment source areas. Rather, the Cenozoic sedimentary basins on the Atlantic margin of northwest Britain record the detritus of four major episodes of Cenozoic uplift of the British Isles (Paleocene, Eocene-Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene-Pleistocene).
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G30881.1