Ž . Global and Planetary Change 24 2000 175–187 www.elsevier.comrlocatergloplacha Geological indications for Palaeogene uplift in the eastern North Sea Basin Ole Rønø Clausen ) , Ole Bjørslev Nielsen, Mads Huuse, Olaf Michelsen ˚ Department of Earth Sciences, UniÕersity of Aarhus, DK-8000 Arhus C, Denmark Received 8 November 1999 Abstract The timing and effect of the Cenozoic uplift of Scandinavia has been investigated using a multi-disciplinary approach involving sedimentological, seismic and biostratigraphic data from the Danish and the adjacent Norwegian parts of the North Sea Basin. It is concluded that significant uplift took place periodically throughout the Palaeogene possibly marking an earlier onset of the so-called ‘‘Neogene uplift’’ of Scandinavia. This conclusion is based on a number of sedimentological observations, including smectite content, grain-size variations, kaolinite thermal stabilities and T values supported by max seismic reflection geometries and biostratigraphic data. These data indicate several phases of re-working of Palaeogene and older sediments situated further to the east and northeast during the middle to late Eocene and during the middle to late Oligocene. The tectonic patterns were similar during the late Paleocene and the Oligocene with some inversion taking place, whereas no inversion has been observed during the Eocene. Main provenance areas were to the north and northeast during the Paleocene and Oligocene, whereas the Eocene sediments originate mainly from the British Isles to the west. It is proposed that Palaeogene uplift of Scandinavia was associated with regional tectonic movements along crustal zones of weakness, which were reactivated as they accommodated strain induced by the Alpine Orogeny and the opening of the North Atlantic. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Palaeogene uplift; Eastern North Sea Basin 1. Introduction During the post-Danian Cenozoic, the North Sea area constituted an epicontinental basin which was filled with siliciclastic sediments supplied from the east and the west and, for the Norwegian–Danish Ž . Basin, from the north Michelsen et al., 1998 . The Cenozoic North Sea Basin is centred above the Ž . Mesozoic Central Trough Fig. 1 . The subdivision ) Corresponding author. Tel.: q 45-89-42-25-18; fax: q 45-89- 42-25-25. Ž . E-mail address: geolorc@aau.dk O.R. Clausen . of the Cenozoic succession in the Danish North Sea is based mainly on the sequence stratigraphic analy- Ž . sis presented by Michelsen et al. 1995, 1998 . By means of biostratigraphy, the sequences are related to the lithostratigraphic units defined onshore Den- Ž .Ž . mark Fig. 2 Michelsen, 1994 . The uplift of the eastern margin of the North Sea Ž Basin has generally been dated as Neogene Jensen and Michelsen, 1992; Jensen and Schmidt, 1992; . Japsen, 1993, 1998 . The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the Cenozoic uplift of the eastern margin of the North Sea Basin was initiated during the Palaeogene. The work is based on well data 0921-8181r00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0921-8181 00 00007-2