The Neogene stratigraphy of the glaciated European margin from Lofoten to Porcupine

This section presents the pre-Neogene framework of the Atlantic margin of NW Europe (Fig. 15, Fig. 16, and Fig. 17). It provides a brief summary of the post-rift structural framework of the continental margin upon which the development of the Neogene succession can be placed. Each Work Package area presents this framework in terms of a structural elements map, either schematic or based on a gravity image, supported by several structural cross-sections that depict the pre-Neogene configuration of the continental margin. It is interesting to note that whilst the present bathymetric setting of the Vøring and Møre margins differs from that of the Faroe–Shetland and Rockall–Porcupine margins (Fig. 1), the pre-, syn- and early post-rift development of these margins was similar. The Vøring and Møre basins form part of a linked system of basins that included the Faroe-Shetland, Rockall and Porcupine basins to the south. The major difference appears to be that the previously emergent structural platforms of the Vøring and Møre marginal highs have subsided to a far greater degree during the Cenozoic than those forming the Faroe–Rockall Plateau region. One notable consequence of this differential subsidence is that the resulting variable physiography of the continental margin has produced regional differences in the nature and style of bottom-current activity, which is a major control on Neogene sedimentation. 

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