A brief review of the Late Cretaceous “Oceanic Red Beds” of the North Sea offshore region

H.W. Bailey

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.01.006

Geological evolution of the Chalk Group in the northern Dutch North Sea: inversion, sedimentation and redeposition

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756818000572 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 156 (07) ◽

pp. 1265-1284

Author(s):

EVA VAN DER VOET ◽

LEONORA HEIJNEN ◽

JOHN J. G. REIJMER

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Seismic Survey ◽

Structural Elements ◽

The North ◽

Show Evidence ◽

New Finding ◽

The North Sea ◽

Thickness Variations ◽

Well Data

AbstractIn contrast to the Norwegian and Danish sectors, where significant hydrocarbon reserves were found in chalk reservoirs, limited studies exist analysing the chalk evolution in the Dutch part of the North Sea. To provide a better understanding of this evolution, a tectono-sedimentary study of the Late Cretaceous to Early Palaeogene Chalk Group in the northern Dutch North Sea was performed, facilitated by a relatively new 3D seismic survey. Integrating seismic and biostratigraphic well data, seven chronostratigraphic units were mapped, allowing a reconstruction of intra-chalk geological events.The southwestward thickening of the Turonian sequence is interpreted to result from tilting, and the absence of Coniacian and Santonian sediments in the western part of the study area is probably the result of non-deposition. Seismic truncations show evidence of a widespread inversion phase, the timing of which differs between the structural elements. It started at the end of the Campanian followed by a second pulse during the Maastrichtian, a new finding not reported before. After subsidence during the Maastrichtian and Danian, renewed inversion and erosion occurred at the end of the Danian. Halokinesis processes resulted in thickness variations of chalk units of different ages.In summary, variations in sedimentation patterns in the northern Dutch North Sea relate to the Sub-Hercynian inversion phase during the Campanian and Maastrichtian, the Laramide inversion phase at the end of the Danian, and halokinesis processes. Additionally, the Late Cretaceous sea floor was characterized by erosion through contour bottom currents at different scales and resedimentation by slope failures.

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Cenomanian–Turonian marine amniote remains from the Saxonian Cretaceous Basin of Germany

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756815001004 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 154 (2) ◽

pp. 237-246 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

SVEN SACHS ◽

MARKUS WILMSEN ◽

JOSCHUA KNÜPPE ◽

JAHN J. HORNUNG ◽

BENJAMIN P. KEAR

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

North Sea ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Marine Turtles ◽

The North ◽

Northern European ◽

The North Sea ◽

Bohemian Cretaceous Basin

AbstractThe Saxonian Cretaceous Basin constitutes an important source of rare Late Cretaceous marine amniote fossils from Germany. It is also historically famous, having been documented in a series of monographic works published by the distinguished German palaeontologist Hanns Bruno Geinitz in the nineteenth century. The most productive rock units include the upper Cenomanian Dölzschen Formation and upper Turonian Strehlen and Weinböhla limestones (lower Strehlen Formation). A survey of curated specimens recovered from these deposits has now identified isolated teeth of probable polycotylid and elasmosaurid plesiosaurians, as well as several humeri that are referred to protostegid marine turtles. The Saxonian Cretaceous Basin formed a continuous epeiric seaway with the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin during late Cenomanian – Turonian time. A western connection to the North Sea Basin also existed via the North German and Münsterland Cretaceous basins. The Mesozoic marine amniote remains from these regions therefore record a coeval northern European fauna that was probably homogeneous across the northern peri-Tethyan margin during Late Cretaceous time.

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Stratigraphie architecture of the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic along the southern border of the North Sea Basin in Belgium

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw ◽

10.1017/s0016774600023453 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 83 (3) ◽

pp. 155-171

Author(s):

N. Vandenberghe ◽

S. Van Simaeys ◽

E. Steurbaut ◽

J.W.M. Jagt ◽

P. J. Felder

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Time Intervals ◽

The North ◽

Tectonic Events ◽

Geological Information ◽

The North Sea ◽

Southern Border

AbstractThe Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic sedimentary record in the Campine Basin along the southern border of the North Sea Basin is analysed in terms of sequence stratigraphy. All available biostratigraphic, and in some cases, magnetostratigraphic data are used to constrain the sequence chronostratigraphy. The relative geographic extent of the strata is used as an indication of the relative sea level. Tectonic and eustatic components could be distinguished in several cases using regional geological information. Generally, sequences consist of transgressive and highstand systems tracts only and have flat, abrasion-type lower boundaries. Lowstand deposits are only identified as infill of erosional space, which generally implies marked tectonic uplift. Several eustatic and tectonic events can be correlated with similar events known elsewhere in the North Sea Basin. The time intervals spanned by the different sequences vary considerably, pointing out different control mechanisms.

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Early Cretaceous

Danmarks Geologiske Undersøgelse Serie B ◽

10.34194/serieb.v8.7068 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 45-49

Author(s):

Jens Morgen Hansen ◽

Arne Buch

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Early Cretaceous ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Late Jurassic ◽

Significant Feature ◽

Marine Clay ◽

The North ◽

Marine Sand ◽

The North Sea ◽

Early Late

The Early Cretaceous sea primarily covered the same basinal regions as the Late Jurassic sea but, late in the Early Cretaceous the sea also covered Late Jurassic land masses. During Early Cretaceous time the topography of the North Sea region became gradually buried. The following major transgression comprises the transition Early/Late Cretaceous. At the Jurassic/ Cretaceous transition, the Late Cimmerian unconformity is a significant feature (fig. 24), known from large parts of the North Sea region. The subsequent transgression and sedimentation of marine clay (the Valhall Formation), and marine sand (the LC-1 Unit), started late in Late Jurassic. Therefore, the formations described in the present chapter also comprise sediments of Late Jurassic age. Thicknesses of the Lower Cretaceous sediments are given in fig. 15.

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Late Cretaceous and Danian limestone

Danmarks Geologiske Undersøgelse Serie B ◽

10.34194/serieb.v8.7069 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 49-62

Author(s):

Kirsten Lieberkind ◽

Inger Bang ◽

Naja Mikkelsen ◽

Erik Nygaard

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Tectonic Activity ◽

Calcareous Nannoplankton ◽

Carbonate Sedimentation ◽

The North ◽

The North Sea ◽

Early Cretaceous Period ◽

Sea Area ◽

Cretaceous Period

At the termination of the Early Cretaceous period, the sea transgressed large earlier land areas. The transgression, the reduced relief of the continents, the generally diminished tectonic activity, the climatic change, and the enormous production of calcareous nannoplankton in the oceans profoundly changed the gross facies pattern in the North Sea region. The elastic sedimentation was replaced during Late Cretaceous time by offshore relatively deep water carbonate sedimentation. This resulted in the deposition of a chalk sequence reaching a thickness of 1-2 km in the Danish Subbasin and the North Sea area.

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Petrography, mineralogy and diagenesis of overpressured Tertiary and Late Cretaceous mudrocks from the East Shetland Basin

Clay Minerals ◽

10.1180/claymin.1992.027.4.08 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 487-506 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

J. M. Huggett

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Clay Fraction ◽

Volcanic Glass ◽

The North ◽

Carbonate Cements ◽

Single Well ◽

The North Sea ◽

Open Faults

AbstractThe petrography, mineralogy and diagenesis of an overpressured Tertiary and Late Cretaceous mudrock sequence from a single well in the East Shetland Basin (North Sea) are described. The clay fraction is believed to be dominated by volcanic glass above 1400 m depth and by smectite below 1400 m. The smectite content increases with depth due to an increase in detrital smectite and to in situ alteration of volcanic glass and grains; this commenced almost immediately after deposition and is still not complete at burial depths >2300 m. There is little evidence of alteration of the smectite to illite despite a local available supply of K+ in the form of K-feldspar and the presence of K in the more deeply buried smectite. Very little leaching or precipitation of quartz has occurred. Microfossil tests filled with authigenic clays such as have been reported in other Tertiary mudrocks in the North Sea were not observed, though a few fossil cavities are filled with carbonate cements, and very rarely with microquartz. The suprisingly limited reactivity of this mudrock sequence may be due to the early development of overpressure, resulting in a “closed” system, and to the absence of interbedded higher permeability layers or open faults through which fluids could be exchanged.

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