understanding of the evolution of the North Sea Rift
system has evolved greatly during the last 30 years of exploration
activity. The near complete coverage of 3D seismic data
and extensive well database makes the North Sea one of the
most densely sampled ancient rift systems in the world. This
paper draws on previously published models, basin wide coverage
of 3D seismic and well data to present a model of basin
evolution of the Central North Sea Trough (sensu Gowers &
Soeboe 1985). The basin analysis can be divided into four
components: (a) the development of the entire North Sea Rift
in the context of the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic evolution of NW
Europe; (b) consideration of the evolution of Jurassic stratigraphy
within the sub-basins of the Central Trough; (c) the
role of salt tectonics and basement extension in the structural
evolution of the basin; and (d) the variation through time of
fault and isopach trends. It is important to stress that the
interpretations are drawn from regionally consistent, merged,
prospect scale structural and stratigraphic mapping by the
authors and their colleagues and not solely on selected traverses
from the databases, which by necessity are all that can
be presented here as support for the proposed model of basin
evolution.
Regional