Late Cretaceous tectono-sedimentary events in NW Europe |
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| Authors: | Rory N Mortimore |
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| Institution: | School of the Environment and Technology, University of Brighton, BN2 4GJ UK and ChalkRock Ltd. 32, Prince Edwards Road, Lewis Sussex BN7 1BE, UK |
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| Abstract: | Late Cretaceous sedimentary history has been strongly influenced by both sea-level fluctuations and inversion tectonics. Evidence for tectonic movements, originally identified in German Late Cretaceous basins, is applied to the UK successions. Two periods of movement are conspicuous: a Middle Turonian episode involving huge loss of section along anticlinal axes in southern England and a Late Santonian-Early Campanian episode also involving section loss on structure and section gain off structure. This pattern is repeated where folds or blocks are underlain by inversion thrust faults (e.g. the Purbeck Fault in Dorset, the Falmer Fault in Sussex, the Portsdown Fault in Hampshire and the Bray Fault in Upper Normandy). Other episodes of inversion in the Late Turonian to Middle Coniacian and the late Early Campanian are investigated and are a probable cause of slump beds and slides. These tecto-sedimentary episodes can be applied to structures in Northern Ireland, Inner Hebrides, North Sea and Yorkshire as well as southern Britain. Beyond NW Europe the Late Santonian – Early Campanian event is widely recognised in the Carpathians, southern Europe, Africa and the Levant and coincides with the end of the Long Cretaceous Quiet Zone (Chron 34N to 33R) perhaps representing a major change in Earth dynamics related to Mid-Ocean Ridge crustal production and intra-continental crust tectonism. |
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| Keywords: | Late Cretaceous Chalk Inversion tectonics Transpression Thrust fault hanging wall highs Footwall basins Slumps NW Europe Late Santonian-Early Campanian event |
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