Abstract
Faults on the Norwegian continental shelf may be subdivided into groups of differing status, reflecting their significance in the structural history of the region: Both high-angle and low-angle (partly listric) faults have played important roles in the various stages of the structuring, and reactivation of deep zones of weakness have given rise to composite fault geometries. The deeply rooted faults delineate major structural platforms and subplatforms, and have been the most active structural elements throughout the structuring. Their complex geometries and deep roots make them suitable for activation both in the initial, the stretching/crustal thinning, and the thermal cooling/sediment loading stages in graben development.
Characteristic of the deeply rooted faults is that they show mixed planar and listric extensional fault geometries (consistent composite faults), reactivation (several stages of growth, more than one level of detachment), and activity associated with different stress situations; inversion, superposition of structural styles (inconsistent composite faults).
A preliminary correlation of recent seismic activity to the main fault systems in the northern North Sea Basin, suggests that the areas underlain by deep planar faults are the same areas which are seismically most active.
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Gabrielsen, R.H. (1989). Reactivation of Faults on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and its Implications for Earthquake Occurrence. In: Earthquakes at North-Atlantic Passive Margins: Neotectonics and Postglacial Rebound. NATO ASI Series, vol 266. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2311-9_6
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