Tertiary Technostratigraphic Evolution of the Veslemøy High and Sørvestnaget Basin, Western Barents Sea

Abstract

Summary The Tertiary succession is a promising reservoir in the western margin of the Barents Sea. Previous studies have mapped injectites and submarine fans in a single 3D seismic dataset in the Sorvestnaget Basin. Wells have confirmed the reservoir potential, but the lateral variation of these reservoir rocks and the role of active tectonics in their distribution is not yet properly understood. Even though both the tectonics and the sedimentation are studied, they are only studied separately and there are no references displaying the role of tectonics on the sedimentation for the Tertiary succession in this area. The technostratigraphical evolution during Tertiary in the study area can be related to the regional geological mechanism such as, rifting, uplift, subsidence, and glaciation. All of these which have an important factor for controlling the deposition and remobilization of sediments in the subsurface. Salt halokinesis have together with the regional tectonic events also affected the Tertiary succession to a large degree as a major halokinetic event occurred during Eocene, reworking the sediments by truncation, erosion, and the formation of local deep basins.