Seamounts and oceanic igneous features in the NE Atlantic: a link between plate motions and mantle dynamics

A new regional compilation of seamount-like oceanic igneous features (SOIFs) in the NE Atlantic points to three distinct oceanic areas of abundant seamount clusters. Seamounts on oceanic crust dated 54–50 Ma are formed on smooth oceanic basement, which resulted from high spreading rates and magmatic productivity enhanced by higher than usual mantle plume activity. Late Eocene–Early Miocene SOIF clusters are located close to newly formed tectonic features on rough oceanic crust in the Irminger, Iceland and Norway basins, reflecting an unstable tectonic regime prone to local readjustments of mid-ocean ridge and fracture zone segments accompanied by extra igneous activity. A SOIF population observed on Mid-Miocene–Present rough oceanic basement in the Greenland and Lofoten basins, and on conjugate Kolbeinsey Ridge flanks, coincides with an increase in spreading rate and magmatic productivity. We suggest that both tectonic/kinematic and magmatic triggers produced Mid-Miocene–Present SOIFs, but the Early Miocene westwards ridge relocation may have played a role in delaying SOIF formation south of the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone. We conclude that Iceland plume episodic activity combined with regional changes in relative plate motion led to local mid-ocean ridge readjustments, which enhanced the likelihood of seamount formation

A review of the NE Atlantic conjugate margins based on seismic refraction data

The NE Atlantic region evolved through several rift episodes, leading to break-up in the Eocene that was associated with voluminous magmatism along the conjugate margins of East Greenland and NW Europe. Existing seismic refraction data provide good constraints on the overall tectonic development of the margins, despite data gaps at the NE Greenland shear margin and the southern Jan Mayen microcontinent. The maximum thickness of the initial oceanic crust is 40 km at the Greenland–Iceland–Faroe Ridge, but decreases with increasing distance to the Iceland plume. High-velocity lower crust interpreted as magmatic underplating or sill intrusions is observed along most margins but disappears north of the East Greenland Ridge and the Lofoten margin, with the exception of the Vestbakken Volcanic Province at the SW Barents Sea margin. South of the narrow Lofoten margin, the European side is characterized by wide margins. The opposite trend is seen in Greenland, with a wide margin in the NE and narrow margins elsewhere. The thin crust beneath the basins is generally underlain by rocks with velocities of >7 km s−1 interpreted as serpentinized mantle in the Porcupine and southern Rockall basins; while off Norway, alternative interpretations such as eclogite bodies and underplating are also discussed

Moho and basement depth in the NE Atlantic Ocean based on seismic refraction data and receiver functions

Seismic refraction data and results from receiver functions were used to compile the depth to the basement and Moho in the NE Atlantic Ocean. For interpolation between the unevenly spaced data points, the kriging technique was used. Free-air gravity data were used as constraints in the kriging process for the basement. That way, structures with little or no seismic coverage are still presented on the basement map, in particular the basins off East Greenland. The rift basins off NW Europe are mapped as a continuous zone with basement depths of between 5 and 15 km. Maximum basement depths off NE Greenland are 8 km, but these are probably underestimated. Plate reconstructions for Chron C24 (c. 54 Ma) suggest that the poorly known Ammassalik Basin off SE Greenland may correlate with the northern termination of the Hatton Basin at the conjugate margin. The most prominent feature on the Moho map is the Greenland–Iceland–Faroe Ridge, with Moho depths >28 km. Crustal thickness is compiled from the Moho and basement depths. The oceanic crust displays an increased thickness close to the volcanic margins affected by the Iceland plume

Enhancing the prospectivity of the Wyville Thomson Ridge

Føroya Kolvetni (Faroe Petroleum) was awarded Licence 012, covering part of the Wyville Thomson Ridge, in the second Faroese Licensing Round and this paper summarises some initial results from their work programme. Interest in the prospectivity of the Wyville Thomson Ridge was stimulated in the 1990s by a proposal that it forms a compressional anticline with a thin carapace of Paleogene lavas, overlying an inverted sedimentary basin. Gravity interpretation confirms that the ridge can be modelled as an inverted basin, although uncertainties inherent in the method limit the accuracy of the thickness estimates. Seismic reflection data shot in 2005 provide improved resolution of the pre-lava succession, with some reflector packages resembling seismic facies from the prospective Paleocene succession in the Faroe-Shetland Basin. The Rannvá exploration lead consists of an extremely large four-way dip closure beneath thin lavas at the crest of the Wyville Thomson Ridge. Source rock presence and maturity, hydrocarbon migration, and reservoir development in the Licence 012 area are discussed on the basis of regional observations

Eocene post-rift tectonostratigraphy of the Rockall Plateau, Atlantic margin of NW Britain : linking early spreading tectonics and passive margin response

A regional study of the Eocene succession in the UK sector of the Rockall Plateau has yielded new insights into the early opening history of the NE Atlantic continental margin. Data acquired from British Geological Survey borehole 94/3, on the Rockall High, provides a high-resolution record of post-rift, Early to Mid-Eocene, subaqueous fan-delta development and sporadic volcanic activity, represented by pillow lavas, tuffs and subaerial lavas. This sequence correlates with the East Rockall Wedge, which is one of several prograding sediment wedges identified across the Rockall Plateau whose development was largely terminated in the mid-Lutetian. Linking the biostratigraphical data with the magnetic anomaly pattern in the adjacent ocean basin indicates that this switch-off in fan-delta sedimentation and volcanism was coincident with the change from a segmented/transform margin to a continuously spreading margin during chron C21. However, late-stage easterly prograding sediment wedges developed on the Hatton High during late Mid- to Late Eocene times; these can only have been sourced from the Hatton High, which was developing as an anticline during this interval. This deformation occurred in response to Mid- to Late Eocene compression along the ocean margin, possibly associated with the reorganisation to oblique spreading in the Iceland Basin, which culminated at the end of the Eocene with the formation of the North Hatton Anticline, and the deformation (tilting) of these wedges. A series of intra-Eocene unconformities, of which the mid-Lutetian unconformity is the best example, has been traced from the Rockall Plateau to the Faroe–Shetland region and onto the Greenland conjugate margin bordering the early ocean basin. Whilst there appears to be some correlation with 3rd order changes in eustatic sea level, it is clear from this study that tectonomagmatic processes related to changes in spreading directions between Greenland and Eurasia, and/or mantle thermal perturbations cannot be discounted

Break-up and seafloor spreading domains in the NE Atlantic

An updated magnetic anomaly grid of the NE Atlantic and an improved database of magnetic anomaly and fracture zone identifications allow the kinematic history of this region to be revisited. At break-up time, continental rupture occurred parallel to the Mesozoic rift axes in the south, but obliquely to the previous rifting trend in the north, probably due to the proximity of the Iceland plume at 57-54 Ma. The new oceanic lithosphere age grid is based on 30 isochrons (C) from C24n old (53.93 Ma) to C1n old (0.78 Ma), and documents ridge reorganizations in the SE Lofoten Basin, the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone region, in Iceland and offshore Faroe Islands. Updated continent-ocean boundaries, including the Jan Mayen microcontinent, and detailed kinematics of the Eocene- Present Greenland-Eurasia relative motions are included in this model. Variations in the subduction regime in the NE Pacific could have caused the sudden northwards motion of Greenland and subsequent Eurekan deformation. These events caused seafloor spreading changes in the neighbouring Labrador Sea and a decrease in spreading rates in the NE Atlantic. Boundaries between major oceanic crustal domains were formed when the European Plate changed its absolute motion direction, probably caused by successive adjustments along its southern boundary.</p

A review of the NE Atlantic conjugate margins based on seismic refraction data

The NE Atlantic region evolved through several rift episodes, leading to break-up in the Eocene that was associated with voluminous magmatism along the conjugate margins of East Greenland and NW Europe. Existing seismic refraction data provide good constraints on the overall tectonic development of the margins, despite data gaps at the NE Greenland shear margin and the southern Jan Mayen microcontinent. The maximum thickness of the initial oceanic crust is 40 km at the Greenland–Iceland–Faroe Ridge, but decreases with increasing distance to the Iceland plume. High-velocity lower crust interpreted as magmatic underplating or sill intrusions is observed along most margins but disappears north of the East Greenland Ridge and the Lofoten margin, with the exception of the Vestbakken Volcanic Province at the SW Barents Sea margin. South of the narrow Lofoten margin, the European side is characterized by wide margins. The opposite trend is seen in Greenland, with a wide margin in the NE and narrow margins elsewhere. The thin crust beneath the basins is generally underlain by rocks with velocities of >7 km s−1 interpreted as serpentinized mantle in the Porcupine and southern Rockall basins; while off Norway, alternative interpretations such as eclogite bodies and underplating are also discussed