Sedimentary and oceanographic responses to early Neogene compression on the NW European margin

The lower Neogene stratigraphy of the NW European Atlantic margin, from the Vøring to the Porcupine basins, is interpreted to record a discrete phase of compressional tectonism that spanned at least 8 Ma from the earliest to the early mid-Miocene. This compressional tectonism may be coeval with a local reorganisation of the NE Atlantic plate system with the transfer of the Jan Mayen micro-plate from Greenland to Europe. The compressional tectonics has resulted in a number of stratigraphic sequences of complex character bounded by regional base Neogene and intra-Miocene unconformities. These are traceable across a range of depths and record distortion of the basin margins and changes in deep-water circulation patterns. This episode of compressional tectonics has also resulted in the creation of a number of anticlinal domes along the Norwegian, Faroese and UK Atlantic margins. The stratigraphic and structural evidence are interpreted to record two stages in the development of the margin: the first being characterised by a prolonged period of regional flexure in response to the build-up of compressive stresses; the second stage is the development of anticlinal structures that led to a rapid release of stress. In the Wyville-Thomson-Faroes region, compressional deformation influenced the creation of the present-day deep-water conduit of the Faroe Bank Channel, which is interpreted to be an early Neogene syncline. Together, the Faroe Bank and Faroe-Shetland channels represent the deepest water passageway across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The early Neogene development of this conduit is considered to mark the onset of deep-water exchange across this oceanic gateway.