Basin inversion in and around the British Isles

TLDR

Basins around the British Isles formed by episodic rifting and subsequent thermal subsidence, yet the islands stand out for their high elevation and extensive exposure of rocks from the Pre‑Cambrian to Tertiary, indicating an uncertain uplift history. The study uses onshore and offshore data to show that compressional inversion of Tertiary strata has reshaped the current outcrop geology.

Abstract

Summary The development of basins of Mesozoic and Tertiary age both onshore and offshore the British Isles is largely a consequence of episodic rifting that led to the progressive northward opening of the North Atlantic. In these basins, extension was controlled by the structure of underlying Palaeozoic terrains and succeeded by passive thermal subsidence. In this context, however, the British Isles represent an anomaly both in terms of their present elevation and in the widespread exposure of Pre-Cambrian to Tertiary rocks. The outcrop geology of the onshore and offshore basins is an obvious demonstration of uplift although the timing and origin and magnitude of the uplift have remained uncertain. Evidence from onshore and offshore the British Isles is used to document the influence of compressional inversion of Tertiary age in shaping the present day outcrop geology.