The interplay between siliciclastic and carbonate depositional systems: Maastrichtian to Danian basin-floor sediments of the mid-Norwegian Møre Basin

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Final published version, 81.9 MB, PDF document

Source-to-sink sedimentary systems associated with volcanic rifted margins serve as important archives for basin development by recording lithospheric changes affecting the depositional systems. Distinguishing between sediment transport processes and their sediment source(s) can guide the interpretation of a basin's history, and thereby inform regional paleogeographic reconstructions. In this contribution, we integrate and utilize wireline geophysical logs, detailed petrographic observations from side-wall cores, and seismic analysis to describe and decipher a Maastrichtian to Danian-aged basin-floor depositional system in the deep outer Møre Basin, mid-Norwegian margin. Well 6302/6-1 (Tulipan) is a spatially isolated borehole drilled in 2001 that penetrates Maastrichtian and younger strata. A succession of hitherto undescribed carbonates and sandstones in the outer Møre Basin was discovered. It is investigated for sediment transport, provenance, and depositional processes on the basin floor surrounded by structural highs and ridges. The strata from the lower parts form a basin-floor apron consisting of redeposited carbonate sourced from a westerly sub-aerial high. The apron transitions vertically from mixed siliciclastic and carbonate into a purely siliciclastic fan with intercalated sandstone and mudstone, providing a rare high-resolution record of how depositional environments experience a complete shift in dominant processes. The development coincides with similar latest Cretaceous-earliest Palaeocene sequences recorded south of this region (e.g., well 219/20-1) and may have been influenced by regional uplift associated with the onset of magmatism in the Northeast Atlantic. This study improves our understanding of a late, pre-breakup source-to-sink sedimentary system developed near the breakup axis of an infant ocean, and documents what is possibly the northernmost chalk deposit in the Chalk Group.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere12827
JournalBasin Research
Volume36
Issue number1
Number of pages31
ISSN0950-091X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Basin Research published by International Association of Sedimentologists and European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

    Research areas

  • carbonate basin-floor apron, mid-Norwegian margin, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposits

ID: 375720530