Window into the Caledonian orogen: Structure of the crust beneath the East Shetland platform, United Kingdom

Geological Society of America Bulletin
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Abstract

Reprocessing and interpretation of commercial and deep seismic reflection data across the East Shetland platform and its North Sea margin provide a new view of crustal subbasement structure beneath a poorly known region of the British Caledonian orogen. The East Shetland platform, east of the Great Glen strike-slip fault system, is one of the few areas of the offshore British Caledonides that remained relatively insulated from the Mesozoic and later rifting that involved much of the area around the British Isles, thus providing an “acoustic window” into the deep structure of the orogen. Interpretation of the reflection data suggests that the crust beneath the platform retains a significant amount of its original Caledonian and older architecture. The upper to middle crust is typically poorly reflective except for individual prominent dipping reflectors with complex orientations that decrease in dip with depth and merge with a lower crustal layer of high reflectivity. The three-dimensional structural orientation of the reflectors beneath the East Shetland platform is at variance with Caledonian reflector trends observed elsewhere in the Caledonian orogen (e.g., north of the Scottish mainland), emphasizing the unique tectonic character of this part of the orogen. Upper to middle crustal reflectors are interpreted as Caledonian or older thrust surfaces that were possibly reactivated by Devonian extension associated with post-Caledonian orogenic collapse.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Window into the Caledonian orogen: Structure of the crust beneath the East Shetland platform, United Kingdom
Series title Geological Society of America Bulletin
DOI 10.1130/0016-7606(1999)111<1030:WITCOS>2.3.CO;2
Volume 111
Issue 7
Year Published 1999
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Description 12 p.
First page 1030
Last page 1041
Country United Kingdom
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