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

Stratigraphic-range chart for the North Sea Fan–Vøring region

The latest Palaeogene–Neogene stratigraphic range chart for the North Sea Fan–Vøring region is based on 20 sample stations, consisting of 14 commercial wells, 2 geotechnical borings, 1 DSDP site and 3 ODP sites. The sample stations are located on the adjacent map. This indicates two main areas of sampling: the North Sea margin in the south, and the Vøring margin in the north. On the North Sea margin, the sample stations are clustered on the western flank of the Norwegian Channel, essentially testing the section preserved on the upper slope. A more extensive dataset exists on the Vøring margin where sample stations extend from the shelf onto the slope (Vøring Plateau).

The range chart confirms the existence of an intra-Pliocene unconformity that separates the Naust and Kai formations — the Base Naust Unconformity (BNU). This unconformity is clearly expressed in wells and boreholes from the shelf and upper slope, whereas on the Vøring Plateau sedimentation may have been more continuous. The biostratigraphic resolution of this event within the Pliocene is generally poor, which has led to a general 'mid-Pliocene' age assignment. However, well 6407/1-2 provides a tighter constraint on the BNU and implies a late early Pliocene age, about NN15, which is consistent with information from the Rockall–Porcupine region. 

The range chart also indicates that the record of sedimentation associated with the Kai Formation is regionally variable. There is a significant early–mid-Miocene hiatus on the North Sea margin, whereas on the Vøring margin a more complete succession is preserved albeit punctuated by intra-Miocene unconformities. Significantly, the base of the Kai Formation is marked by a widespread unconformity — the Base Kai Unconformity (BKU) — across a large part of the region that separates it from the underlying Palaeogene strata of the Brygge Formation. The available data from both the North Sea and Vøring margins confirm that generally lower Miocene sediments overlie the BKU, although locally some ambiguity remains where sections appear to transgress the Oligocene–Miocene boundary. Moreover, at ODP site 643, the major hiatus appears to occur in upper Oligocene strata. Nevertheless, these data suggest that at the megasequence level of mapping a major break occurred at about the Palaeogene–Neogene boundary, not withstanding some degree of diachroneity. The fragmentary nature of the Miocene–lower Pliocene succession indicates that early Neogene sedimentation has been interrupted by several erosional events.

Source of data

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2. Eidvin, T. & Riis, F. 1992. En biostratigrafisk og seismostratigrafisk analyse av tertiære sedimenter I nordlige deler av Norskerenna, med hovedvekt på Øvre Pliocene vifteavsetninger. Norwegian Petroleum Directorate Contribution No. 32. 40 pp.

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16. Eidvin, T., Koc, N., Smelror, M., & Jansen, E. 1998. Biostratigraphical investigation of borehole 6704/12-GB1 from the Gjallar Ridge on the Vøring Plateau. Report for the Seabed Project, OD-98-22, 27 pp.

17. Site Survey NOCS 6704/12-1S Gjallar Ridge. Final report, results, 14pp

18. Talwani, M., Udintsev, G., et al. 1976. Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 38. Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office), 1256pp.

19. Bjørklund, K.R. (1976). Radiolaria from the Norwegian Sea, Leg 38 of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project. In: Talwani, M., Udintsev, G., et al. (eds), Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 38. Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office), 1101-1128.

20. Bruns, P., Dullo, W.-C., Hay, W.W., Frank, M., & Kubik, P. 1998. Hiatuses on Vøring Plateau: sediment gaps or preservation artefacts? Marine Geology, 145, 61-84.

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