The Quaternary Succession on the Northern United Kingdom Continental Shelf and Slope: Implications for Regional Geotechnical Investigations

Stoker, Martyn S.; Long, David A.; Skinner, A. C.; Evans, D. A.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-7358-2_4

Cited by 10 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Thus, in the early Middle Pleistocene the Southern North Sea, south of ∼55°N, formed an extensive delta system, comprising deposits known, in the UK sector, as the Yarmouth Roads Formation (e.g. Stoker et al ., ). The Anglian/Elster glaciation (MIS 12), represented by glacigenic sediments of the Swarte Bank Formation, marked the end of this continuous deltaic sedimentation.…”

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 97%

“…The sediment thicknesses thus illustrated agree reasonably well with modern studies for the Southern North Sea, but underestimate the thicknesses currently accepted in modern studies of the Central North Sea (e.g. Stoker et al ., ; Ottesen et al ., ); in the latter region the sediment thickness depicted on this map is that above the Upper Regional Unconformity, which is now regarded as the base Middle Pleistocene rather than the base Pleistocene.…”

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(), agree reasonably well with modern studies for the Southern North Sea, but indeed underestimate the thicknesses currently accepted for the Central North Sea (cf. Stoker et al ., ; Ottesen et al ., ). In the latter region, the sediment thickness depicted in Fig.…”

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, during the pre‐Jaramillo Early Pleistocene, the sedimentation rate was much lower, the local record being discontinuous (Ekman, ). However, a nearby representative cross‐section depicts ∼90 m of seawater underlain by ∼90 m of Anglian and younger deposits, then ∼620 m of older Pleistocene sediments, their base ∼800 m below sea level (Stoker et al ., ): the deposition of ∼620–180 m of sediment between ∼2600 and ∼780 ka indicates a time averaged Early Pleistocene sedimentation rate of ∼0.24 mm a −1 . This representative thickness is consistent with recent 3D seismic work (Ottesen et al ., ), which depicts the base Pleistocene deepening eastward in this vicinity to a maximum of ∼1000 m ca.…”

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Isostatic compensation of Quaternary vertical crustal motions: coupling between uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea

Westaway

2016

J Quaternary Science

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New data from offshore and onshore regions confirm the view that the Quaternary uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea are coupled, mediated by lower‐crustal flow induced by the lateral pressure gradient caused by climate‐driven surface processes. Most measured onshore uplift rates, in both upland and lowland localities, are only applicable since the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution; beforehand, generally lower rates prevailed. Earlier (?Oligocene–Pliocene) phases of uplift and subsidence had typically even lower rates; furthermore, the western margin of the North Sea depocentre was ∼200 km farther from the modern coastline of north‐east England. In the earliest Cenozoic, complex isostatic adjustments occurred in response to the magmatism associated with the Iceland mantle plume; the contemporaneous land surface (relative to the present‐day rock column) in northern England was typically ∼1500 m OD. However, this activity died out during the Palaeogene; the main effect of these events on the modern isostatic configuration was via the emplacement of thick mafic underplating, which now constricts the mobile lower‐crustal layer, explaining the Late Cenozoic ultra‐stability of Ireland. The evidence enables interpretations of the present‐day topography of Britain as static, caused by the Iceland mantle plume, or actively developing in response to plate motions or plate boundary forces, to be excluded.

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Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Offshore Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Isostatic compensation of Quaternary vertical crustal motions: coupling between uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea

Westaway

2016

J Quaternary Science

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“…a). Although in previous site‐survey and regional reports, these sediments were originally interpreted as possessing a simple layer‐cake stratigraphy (Stoker et al ., ,b; Cameron et al ., ; Gatliff et al ., ), the acquisition of high‐quality, high‐resolution 2D seismic data has revealed that this sedimentary sequence has undergone major glaciotectonic disruption during the mid‐Pleistocene glaciation. The data are further used to erect a thin‐skinned glaciotectonic model involving proglacial to ice‐marginal glaciotectonic thrusting followed by post‐tectonic deposition to explain the evolution of the part of the Central Graben.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mid‐Pleistocene thin‐skinned glaciotectonic thrusting of the Aberdeen Ground Formation, Central Graben region, central North Sea

Vaughan-Hirsch

Phillips

2016

J Quaternary Science

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This paper presents the results of a high-resolution 2D seismic survey of Mid-Pleistocene glaciogenic sediments in the Central Graben region of the central North Sea. The survey has revealed that these sediments, which were originally interpreted as possessing a simple layercake stratigraphy, have in fact undergone major glaciotectonic thrusting and folding associated with the repeated southerly advance of an ice sheet across the region during the Mid-Pleistocene. The total observed length of the thrust-stacked section is approximately 5 to 6 km, comprising a series of discrete thrust slices, which range in length from < 300 m to > 700 m. The basal detachment of the thrust complex occurs at a depth of c. 220 m below sea bed within the upper Aberdeen Ground Formation. The ice-proximal limit of thrusting is marked by a large depression (>100 m deep, >1600 m wide) infilled by a sequence comprising at its base acoustically chaotic deposits, overlain by a well-bedded unit, passing upwards into tectonically deformed sediments. A thin-skinned glacitectonic model involving proglacial to ice-marginal glacitectonic thrusting followed by post-tectonic deposition is proposed. Initial ice advance led to the over-pressurising of groundwater within a laterally extensive sand sheet in the upper Aberdeen Ground Formation, promoting the formation of a major décollement surface at the base of the developing thrust stack. Detachment and transport of the thrusted sediments led to the contemporaneous formation of a "glacitectonic hollow" beneath the ice margin. Dewatering of the basal décollement, possibly due to water escaping from the thrusts which propagated upwards through the Aberdeen Ground, led to the cessation of forward propagation of the leading-edge of the thrust stack accompanied by extensive shortening and deformation at its ice-proximal end. Subsequent retreat of the ice exposed the tectonic hollow which became infilled with glacial outwash. This glacifluvial sequence was itself deformed during later readvance of the ice from the north. The proposed model provides clear evidence that Mid-Pleistocene ice sheet dynamics within the Central Graben of the North Sea was far more complex than previously thought.

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Assessing marine gas emission activity and contribution to the atmospheric methane inventory: A multidisciplinary approach from the Dutch Dogger Bank seep area (North Sea)

Römer

Wenau

Mau

et al. 2017

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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We present a comprehensive study showing new results from a shallow gas seep area in ∼40 m water depth located in the North Sea, Netherlands sector B13 that we call “Dutch Dogger Bank seep area.” It has been postulated that methane presumably originating from a gas reservoir in ∼600 m depth below the seafloor is naturally leaking to the seafloor. Our ship‐based subbottom echosounder data indicate that the migrating gas is trapped in numerous gas pockets in the shallow sediments. The gas pockets are located at the boundary between the top of the Late Pliocene section and overlying fine‐grained sediments, which were deposited during the early Holocene marine transgression after the last glaciation. We mapped gas emissions during three R/V Heincke cruises in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and repeatedly observed up to 850 flares in the study area. Most of them (∼80%) were concentrated at five flare clusters. Our repeated analysis revealed spatial similarities of seep clusters, but also heterogeneities in emission intensities. A first calculation of the methane released from these clusters into the water column revealed a flow rate of 277 L/min (SD = 140), with two clusters emitting 132 and 142 L/min representing the most significant seepage sites. Above these two flare clusters, elevated methane concentrations were recorded in atmospheric measurements. Our results illustrate the effective transport of methane via gas bubbles through a ∼40 m water column, and furthermore provide an estimate of the emission rate needed to allow for a contribution to the atmospheric methane concentration.

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The Quaternary Succession on the Northern United Kingdom Continental Shelf and Slope: Implications for Regional Geotechnical Investigations

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

Isostatic compensation of Quaternary vertical crustal motions: coupling between uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea

Isostatic compensation of Quaternary vertical crustal motions: coupling between uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea

Mid‐Pleistocene thin‐skinned glaciotectonic thrusting of the Aberdeen Ground Formation, Central Graben region, central North Sea

Assessing marine gas emission activity and contribution to the atmospheric methane inventory: A multidisciplinary approach from the Dutch Dogger Bank seep area (North Sea)

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