The deep crustal magnetic structure of Britain

The deep crustal magnetic structure of Britain has not previously been described in a uniform manner. We provide a new assessment of the deep crustal magnetic bodies responsible for the long wavelength magnetic features. The study area contains deep crustal relics of the destruction of early Palaeozoic oceanic lithosphere along the Thor-Tornquist Suture and primarily the Iapetus Suture separating Baltica and Avalonia from the Laurentian terranes. Spectral decomposition is applied to a merged onshore and offshore magnetic anomaly data set. Thirty idealised basement bodies are compared with a representation of the subsurface obtained by a coarse 3D inversion of the data. The central area separating Laurentia and Avalonia, is largely characterised by an absence of high susceptibilities throughout the whole crustal volume. We find that the idealised basement bodies are largely consistent with relatively high susceptibility zones at depths in excess of 10 km. The zones of higher relative susceptibility are referenced to the tectonic-terrane framework of the area and possible geological explanations for the contrasts are reviewed. In the north, the Laurentian terranes are diverse, comprising crust first created in the Archaean (Hebridean Terrane), Palaeoproterozoic (Rhinns Terrane), Mesoproterozoic? (Midland Valley Terrane), Neoproterozoic (sub-Southern Upland rocks) and Ordovician. Magnetic anomalies further record the assembly of the Gondwanan (Eastern Avalonian) part of the country through Neoproterozoic and Ordovician (Tornquist) arc magmatism and accretion. The convergence zones between Laurentia, Avalonia and Baltica have all left a magnetic imprint, as has Variscan convergence to the south

Structural development of the Devono-Carboniferous plays of the UK North Sea

Decades of oil and gas exploration across the North Sea have led to a detailed understanding of its Cenozoic–Mesozoic structure. However, the deeper basin architecture of Paleozoic petroleum systems has been less well defined by seismic data. This regional structural overview of the Devono-Carboniferous petroleum systems incorporates interpretations from more than 85 000 line-kilometres of 2D seismic data and 50 3D seismic volumes, plus a gravity, density and magnetic study, from the Central Silverpit Basin to the East Orkney Basin. A complex picture of previously unmapped or poorly known basins emerges on an inherited basement fabric, with numerous granite-cored blocks. These basins are controlled by Devono- Carboniferous normal, strike-slip and reverse faults. The main basins across Quadrants 29–44 trend NW–SE, influenced by the Tornquist trend inherited from the Caledonian basement. North of Quadrants 27 and 28, and the presumed Iapetus suture, the major depocentres are NE–SW (e.g. the Forth Approaches and Inner Moray Firth basins) to east–west (e.g. the Caithness Graben), and WNW–ESE trending (e.g. the East Orkney Basin), reflecting the basement structural inheritance. From seismic interpretation, there are indications of an older north–south fault trend in the Inner Moray Firth that is difficult to image, since it has been dissected by subsequent Permo-Carboniferous and Mesozoic faulting and rifting