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An integrated approach using plate tectonic analyses and detailed comparative stratigraphy of the North Atlantic has placed new constraints on the Mesozoic to Cenozoic geological history of the Atlantic margin of NW Europe. Key reconstructions from Mesozoic time to the present day have been plotted to show the evolution of the North Atlantic, and in particular the Rockall Trough. The reconstructions show Rockall Plateau attached to Greenland from Late Paleozoic time (380 Ma) to Late Cretaceous time (83 Ma) since when Rockall remained attached to Eurasia. The Rockall Trough probably initiated during end-Carboniferous to Early Permian time and underwent further stretching episodes in the Early Triassic, Early Jurassic, Middle Jurassic, Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, mid-Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to give the present-day Rockall Trough configuration. The Permo-Triassic rift was dominated by oblique opening with a left-lateral component of strike-slip. Jurassic through Early Cretaceous extension was characterized by predominantly left-lateral strike-slip with a minor dip-slip component in the Faeroe basin and north Rockall Trough, and mainly dip-slip extension in central and south Rockall Trough. In Early Cretaceous time (mid-Aptian) the majority of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) Atlantic margin underwent orthogonal opening followed by continued extension in Late Cretaceous to Paleocene time, culminating in the opening of the North Atlantic west Rockall Plateau. The main Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous rift episodes conveniently divide the stratigraphy into pre-, syn- and post-rift megasequences which form gross play fairways along the North Atlantic margin. Analysis of these fairways permits integration of data from both mature (e.g. North Sea) and immature (e.g. North Atlantic margin) exploration provinces and helps provide a consistent, predictive approach to the assessment of future hydrocarbon potential of the frontier basins lying along the North Atlantic margin.

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Based on structural analysis, seismicity, and paleomagnetic data a model is presented for the late Cenozoic kinematics of the southern Italian mountain belt. The model predicts that late Cenozoic deformation of the internal part of the belt involved extension and lateral bending of the mantle and lower crust and that in the upper crust faulting was accompanied by semirigid block rotation. In the external part of the belt thrusting dominated. In the north where the arc joins up with the southern Apennines regional shear was dominantly left lateral and distributed between left-slip along WNW trending cross faults, a component of right-slip on north to NNE trending extensional faults, and counterclockwise rotation of upper crustal blocks, including the basin fill and north to NNE trending basin margin faults. In the southern part of the arc, overall right lateral shear was accommodated by right-slip on WNW trending cross faults, a component of left-slip on NE trending extensional faults, and clockwise rotation of upper crustal blocks, basins, and NE trending faults. These styles of deformation were probably confined to the upper plate of the Tyrrhenian subduction system. They are considered to have been active from the beginning of extension in the Tyrrhenian Basin (circa 11 Ma) and are still active today (based on recent seismicity). Research Council (UK) studentship is gratefully acknowledged (to S.D.K.).

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