A Palynological Zonation for the Paleocene of the North Sea Basin

Schröder, Theo

doi:10.1144/jm.11.2.113

Cited by 41 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…These have been compiled from log interpretation of shelf/slope progradational cycles, seismic stratigraphic studies, and extensive biostratigraphy (both palynology and micropalaeontology). The latter was used not just for age dating, but also to determine environments, sedimentation rates and positions of hiatuses and condensed sections, and is described in a recent publication by Schroeder (1992). Fig.…”

Section: 'Inner Fan' Facies Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Paleogene submarine fans of the North Sea in space and time

Jager

Giles

Griffiths

1993

PGC

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Submarine fans of the Paleocene and Eocene have been a successful objective for hydrocarbon exploration in the Central and Northern North Sea since 1967. Over this period, knowledge of submarine fans has increased enormously, with fan models first appearing in 1972, seismic stratigraphy in 1977, and 3D seismic in 1981. In the present article, an attempt is made to combine sequence stratigraphy, seismic facies analysis and sedimentology to create an improved model of reservoir geometries and their variations in space and time.The Paleocene and Eocene of the UK North Sea have been subdivided into a number <5f sequences. Each of these starts with erosion on the shelf and fan deposition in the basin, and ends with a shale which can be correlated regionally. Four 'second-order sequences' (Vail et at. 1977), the Andrew, Forties, Frigg/ Tay and Alba sequences, have been recognized on regional seismic data. The seismic facies characteristics of these sequences have been mapped to identify sand-prone areas of the basin. All fan sediment was derived from the northwest or the west, where an active uplift of 1-3 km of the UK mainland took place, together with a tilt to the southeast. The uplift has been related to the opening of the North Atlantic and the Thulean volcanic phase.Studies on cores, logs and seismic have demonstrated that all submarine fans in the Paleogene of the North Sea are channellized, with channels continuing near to the fan fringe. Soon after the initiation of fan deposition, the total sediment input reached a maximum. The initial channels lacked cohesive levees, due to the high sand content of the turbidites, which resulted in a rather erratic sand/shale distribution. During the later stages of fan deposition, the total sediment input decreased (because of a decreasing rate of shelf erosion) and the relative mud content increased, improving the stability of channel levees. Within these more stable channels, aggradation of massive sands could occur. These linear bodies of massive sand were turned into mounds after differential compaction, thus forming excellent stratigraphic traps. Consequently, the top of these submarine fans often displays a mounded appearance on seismic.This evolution, described for a single sequence, also occurs on a larger scale. A single Paleogene megasequence has been identified, of which the lowermost submarine fan (the Andrew Fan) is characterized by a very high sedimentation rate and very unstable channels, while the uppermost submarine fan (the Alba 'Fan') consists of isolated channel complexes only, now appearing as mounds of a maximum of 2 km wide, which are filled with up to 150 m of massive sand encased in shale. The most promising recent discoveries in this type of fan, have all been made since 1985: the Alba, Forth and Gryphon fields with Alba alone containing in place reserves of some 1.1 billion barrels.Isolated fan channel complexes occur mainly towards the top of the Paleogene megasequence, i.e. within the Eocene. They form the most promising, albeit difficult, fut...

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Section: 'Inner Fan' Facies Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Paleogene submarine fans of the North Sea in space and time

Jager

Giles

Griffiths

1993

PGC

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“…The palynofloras of the section examined in Hole 916A are wholly of terrestrial origin, being composed of an Inaperturopollenites hiatus-Caryapollenites circulus association between 79.37 and 88.85 m. No reliable zonations exist for terrestrial palynofloras in this region, those of Krutzsch (1966) relying on the presence of rare taxa and that of Schroder (1992) being applicable to the earliest Ypresian and Thanetian only. However, quantitative pollen data from southeastern England and the North Sea are available (Jolley, 1996).…”

Section: Comparison With the Magnetostratigraphymentioning

confidence: 93%

Early Eocene palynofloras from Holes 915A, 916A, 917A, and 918D, East Greenland

Jolley¹

1998

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program

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The dinoflagellate cysts, algae, pollen, and spores from the sediments immediately overlying the basalt seaward-dipping reflector sequences (SDRS) in Holes 915A, 916A, 917A, and 918D of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 152 were quantitatively recorded. Only the samples from Holes 916A and 918D yielded rich palynofloras, which in part proved to be correlative with each other. From the quantitative palynological data, a series of associations that represented sedimentation during at least three depositional sequences (parasequences?) was recognized and an age was attributed to the palynofloras using published dinoflagellate zonations. These results demonstrated that the normal polarity sediments recovered from the base of Hole 918D are attributable to Chron 23n, with the oldest sediments that rest on the SDRS being no older than 52 Ma. Analysis of archive material also suggested that sediments of this age are probably present on shore in East Greenland, as the Bopladsdalen Formation. Comparison with previously published accounts of the post-SDRS palynofloras in the Norwegian Sea suggests a similar age for the initiation of sedimentation in other areas of the region.The rich terrestrial component of the pollen and spore flora is in accordance with the 51-52 Ma period of the Eocene temperature maximum; it contains several megatherm taxa and a high proportion of "paleotropical" forms. The dominant vegetation in the neighboring onshore areas during deposition of the immediately post-SDRS sediments appears to have been a notophylous evergreen forest. However, one period of short-term land-surface temperature fall is evident within the interval, with mean annual temperatures possibly cooling by up to 2°C for a period of less than 0.25 m.y. During this period vegetation appears to have changed to a mixed mesophytic angiosperm swamp forest.

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“…(Fig. 3) are noted from the late Paleocene from Scotland (Jolley, 1997), the North Sea (Schröder, 1992), southern England from at least Chron 26n (Jolley, 1998), Belgium (Schumaker-Lambry, 1978, and the Paris Basin from at least Thanetian II (GruasCavagnetto, 1978). Jolley (1998) recognizes Platycarya platycaryoides, P. anticyclus and P. swasticoidus from the Thanet Sand-Ormeby Clay formations in southeast England that are all found only in the Eocene of the U.S. Gulf Coast (e.g., Elsik, 1974;Frederiksen, 1998).…”

Section: Us Gulf Coastmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Interpollis spp. are documented from the North Sea prior to the Apectodinium acme (Schröder, 1992), but the species of Interpollis are not identified. Platycarya spp.…”

Section: Us Gulf Coastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic patterns in the floral response to Paleocene-Eocene warming

Harrington¹

2003

Causes and Consequences of Globally Warm Climates in the Early Paleogene

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Studies on vegetation change from North America show that floral composition in the early Eocene was very similar to that in the late Paleocene. This interpretation is counterintuitive with expectations that rapid global warming, which marks the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, would have led to intense vegetation turnover. In this review, data on Paleocene-Eocene pollen and spores are taken from published sources from four main regions in North America: (1) The U.S. Gulf Coast (paleolatitude 32 °N) (2) the eastern seaboard of Virginia (paleolatitude 39 °N) (3 ) the Bighorn and Powder River basins (paleolatitude 47 °N) and (4) the Canadian Arctic (paleolatitude 78 °N). This data set shows that there is no apparent latitudinal pattern to vegetation turnover in the early Eocene, but rather a strong distinction between the continental interior and the coastal areas. No one immigrant taxon characterizes the whole of North America and the coasts have a greater number of Eocene first occurrencesthan the continental interior. Immigrants can be classified as those that migrated from other continents, of which 40% have European Paleocene records, and those that immigrated from other regions in North America. Intracontinental immigration was exclusively from south to north and was restricted to coastal areas. The consequence of global warming was a complex vegetational response caused by the probable inability of many plants to disperse into North America.

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A Palynological Zonation for the Paleocene of the North Sea Basin

Cited by 41 publications

References 9 publications

Evolution of Paleogene submarine fans of the North Sea in space and time

Evolution of Paleogene submarine fans of the North Sea in space and time

Early Eocene palynofloras from Holes 915A, 916A, 917A, and 918D, East Greenland

Geographic patterns in the floral response to Paleocene-Eocene warming

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