Permo-Triassic development of the Celtic Sea region, offshore Ireland

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Celtic Sea region, lying to the south of Ireland, contains a set of linked post-Palaeozoic sedimentary basins. Petroleum exploration in the region has concentrated upon Cretaceous and Jurassic targets with relatively little known about the Permo-Triassic evolution. Seismic reflection profiles and available well data are used to analyse the Permo-Triassic development of the basins lying in the Irish sector of the Celtic Sea. Occasional, small, fault-controlled Permian intermontane basins were developed in the Celtic Sea region. Rifting in Early Triassic times produced a number of fault-bounded basins, with clastic facies deposited in a fluvial-dominated arid setting. Late Triassic basins, largely controlled by post-rift thermal subsidence and consisting of coastal sabkha or supratidal flat deposits, extended beyond the limits of the Early Triassic basins. The Pembrokeshire Ridge-Labadie Bank, partially cored by Variscan granites, acted as a partial boundary between the North and South Celtic Sea Basins during Triassic times. Lower Triassic sandstone deposits are best developed in the North Celtic Sea and Fastnet Basins. Upper Triassic salt is widespread in the South Celtic Sea Basin and occurs locally along the southern margin of the North Celtic Sea Basin. Upper Triassic marls and mudstones are regionally developed throughout the basins.