Relating Cenozoic North Sea sediments to topography in southern Norway: The interplay between tectonics and climate

About 482 000 km3 of sediment (ca 24 m/Ma) accumulated in the North Sea during the Cenozoic. Early Cenozoic sedimentation was likely due to uplift of the circum North Atlantic landmasses related to continental break-up. Kilometre-scale transient uplift, and in some areas permanent uplift, generated sources for progradational influx of clastic sediments from Scotland, the Shetland platform and, to a lesser degree, southwestern Norway. The Eocene sedimentation pattern was similar to the Palaeocene, with lower rates of accumulation associated with flooding and tectonic quiescence. Sediment influx from the Shetland platform continued throughout the Cenozoic while supply from southern Norway increased markedly around the Eocene–Oligocene, coeval with the greenhouse–icehouse transition. Mass balance calculations of sediment and eroded rock volumes suggest that while some topography along the western margin of Norway may be pre-Cenozoic, significant uplift of the main Paleic surface in southern Norway occurred around the early Oligocene. Sedimentation rates were almost ten-fold higher than the Cenozoic average in the Plio-Pleistocene, slightly higher than the global average. Mass balance calculations indicate that Plio-Pleistocene erosion over-deepened a pre-existing topography.