Some comments on sedimentary basin development in the Northern North Sea

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Abstract
Synopsis: A discussion of some of the problems concerning the structural development of sedimentary basins in the Northern North Sea is made. The Basin and Range Province, often used as an example for the geometry of extensional basins, may not be a good parallel for the Mesozoic North Sea basins, but may be appropriate for the Devonian basins. The Devonian basins originated during the extensional collapse of thickened Caledonian crust to a more normal thickness, a period of crustal restoration. In contrast, Mesozoic basins developed during a period of crustal attenuation, where normal crust was extensively modified to a variably thinned crust. Mesozoic basins cross some of the major Caledonian tectonic elements and may have been built on a Devonian basin architecture. During the Mesozoic, there are significant departures from the subsidence vs. stretching relation predicted by models for extensional basins, and a system of linked tectonics and detachments is invoked. The Northern North Sea forms the northern corner of the NW European block which deformed during the Mesozoic within the boundaries defined by the Tornquist, Biscay and Rockall–Faeroes fault systems. A semi-quantitative displacement vector diagram for the Northern North Sea within this block is presented.