Early Palaeogene stratigraphy, volcanism and tectonics of the Faroe-Shetland region

• Main Authors: Smith, K., Stoker, M.S., Johnson, H., Eidesgaard, O.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: British Geological Survey 2013
• Subjects: Faroe Islands
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530665/; https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530665/1/CR13006N.pdf

This report is the result of a study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Jardfeingi in the early Palaeogene stratigraphy, volcanism and tectonics of the Faroe-Shetland region. It is based primarily on a biostratigraphical analysis of Palaeogene sediments in a set of released UK commercial wells carried out by Ichron Limited, and made available in confidence to the BGS for the purpose of this study. These data have been combined with information from released wells in the Faroese sector, BGS shallow boreholes and other published biostratigraphic information to compile a stratigraphic-range chart for the Paleocene-earliest Eocene succession. The range chart re-emphasises the stratigraphic significance of a series of key unconformities and maximum flooding surfaces within the Faroe-Shetland Basin that have been used to sub-divide the succession in previous sequence stratigraphic interpretations. In the second part of the study, well ties to these key horizons were used to interpret a series of seismic profiles from the basin selected from a regional grid of 2D lines and a mosaic of 3D surveys within the Faroe-Shetland region. The results of the seismic interpretation combined with the data compiled on the stratigraphic range chart, show how the early Palaeogene sediments of the Faroe Moray groups and the uppermost part of the Shetland Group are related to the contemporaneous volcanic rocks of the basin, which are currently incorporated in the Faroe Islands Basalt Group. These observations form the basis of a new synthesis of the tectonic and stratigraphic development of Faroe-Shetland Basin during the early Palaeogene, beginning at 65.5 Ma and culminating in the opening of the NE Atlantic Ocean at 54.5 Ma (Gradstein et al. 2004; Ogg et al. 2008).