Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.10,
No.1, pp. 59-72, 1987
©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press,
Ltd.
THE THREE-PHASE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PORCUPINE SEABIGHT: BASIN FORMATION AND THE
STRUCTURALLY-DEPENDENT SEDIMENTARY PATTERN
M. D. Max*
*Naval Research Laboratory, Code
5110, Washington DC, 20375-5000, USA.
Abstract
The Porcupine Seabight appears to have been
formed in three distinct episodes, each reflecting somewhat
different structural controls. The oldest episode was rifting and
selective crustal thinning associated with Permo-Triassic
taphrogenes, during which there was some dextral movement on
NW-trending faults. The important second episode was probably
Mid-Jurassic to Mid-Cretaceous, and involved major crustal
thinning related to nearby oceanic crust spreading, which
initially reactivated and exploited structures in the continental
crust while later imposing structural trends more related to the
newly-developing oceanic crust rift-transform orientations. The
last significant phase was one of minor adjustment, mainly by
normal faulting of a down-to-basin character. Later, minor
compression with some folding associated with reactivation along
structural lines took place during Tertiary, probably Alpine
times, but did not much affect the pattern of sedimentation
within the Porcupine Seabight.
