The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea
Since the time of the early seismic investigations offshore Mid Norway around 1970, a very characteristic bedrock reflector with a densely small-faulted appearance has been noted, mapped and eventually assigned a base Cretaceous age. The irregular shape of the reflector has been ascribed to tectonic...
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ftnorgesgu:oai:openarchive.ngu.no:11250/2674109 2023-05-15T15:38:40+02:00 The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea Rokoengen, Kåre Smelror, Morten Mørk, Mai Britt E. Mørk, Atle 2005 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2674109 eng eng NGU Bulletin (443) urn:issn:0332-5768 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2674109 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no CC-BY 19-27 SEDIMENTOLOGI SEISMISK STRATIGRAFI Journal article 2005 ftnorgesgu 2022-07-03T15:26:51Z Since the time of the early seismic investigations offshore Mid Norway around 1970, a very characteristic bedrock reflector with a densely small-faulted appearance has been noted, mapped and eventually assigned a base Cretaceous age. The irregular shape of the reflector has been ascribed to tectonic activity, but without really providing a full explanation as to why and how it happened. The Mjølnir impact event in the Barents Sea about 142 million years ago may provide this explanation. Within the present accuracy of seismic interpretation and dating, the impact and faulting apparently occurred simultaneously. If the inferred mega-waves from the impact were strong enough, they would have caused intense disturbance over large areas. Geotechnical evaluations show that the formation of the irregular base Cretaceous reflector could be compatible with the expected results from the modelled impact mega-waves on the soft clay deposits forming the sea bed offshore Mid Norway at that time. If the base Cretaceous faulting was caused by the Mjølnir event, it will represent an important geohazard marker demonstrating the distant effects of extraterrestrial impacts. 51857 Article in Journal/Newspaper Barents Sea NGU Open Archive (Geological Survey of Norway) Barents Sea Norway |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NGU Open Archive (Geological Survey of Norway) |
op_collection_id |
ftnorgesgu |
language |
English |
topic |
SEDIMENTOLOGI SEISMISK STRATIGRAFI |
spellingShingle |
SEDIMENTOLOGI SEISMISK STRATIGRAFI Rokoengen, Kåre Smelror, Morten Mørk, Mai Britt E. Mørk, Atle The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
topic_facet |
SEDIMENTOLOGI SEISMISK STRATIGRAFI |
description |
Since the time of the early seismic investigations offshore Mid Norway around 1970, a very characteristic bedrock reflector with a densely small-faulted appearance has been noted, mapped and eventually assigned a base Cretaceous age. The irregular shape of the reflector has been ascribed to tectonic activity, but without really providing a full explanation as to why and how it happened. The Mjølnir impact event in the Barents Sea about 142 million years ago may provide this explanation. Within the present accuracy of seismic interpretation and dating, the impact and faulting apparently occurred simultaneously. If the inferred mega-waves from the impact were strong enough, they would have caused intense disturbance over large areas. Geotechnical evaluations show that the formation of the irregular base Cretaceous reflector could be compatible with the expected results from the modelled impact mega-waves on the soft clay deposits forming the sea bed offshore Mid Norway at that time. If the base Cretaceous faulting was caused by the Mjølnir event, it will represent an important geohazard marker demonstrating the distant effects of extraterrestrial impacts. 51857 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rokoengen, Kåre Smelror, Morten Mørk, Mai Britt E. Mørk, Atle |
author_facet |
Rokoengen, Kåre Smelror, Morten Mørk, Mai Britt E. Mørk, Atle |
author_sort |
Rokoengen, Kåre |
title |
The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
title_short |
The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
title_full |
The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
The irregular base Cretaceous reflector offshore Mid Norway: a possible result for the Mjølnir impact in the Barents Sea |
title_sort |
irregular base cretaceous reflector offshore mid norway: a possible result for the mjølnir impact in the barents sea |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2674109 |
geographic |
Barents Sea Norway |
geographic_facet |
Barents Sea Norway |
genre |
Barents Sea |
genre_facet |
Barents Sea |
op_source |
19-27 |
op_relation |
NGU Bulletin (443) urn:issn:0332-5768 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2674109 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766369896928641024 |