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Redeposited chalk hydrocarbon reservoirs of the North Sea caused by the Chicxulub K-T bolide impact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

M. Rider  and
D. Kroon
M. Rider
Affiliation:
School of GeoSciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, [email protected](corresponding author)
D. Kroon
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

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A widespread, slumped, redeposited, uppermost Cretaceous chalk interval, up to 60m thick, immediately below the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary, recognised in oil company boreholes across the central North Sea and a major hydrocarbon reservoir, we re-interpret as the result of a single, catastrophic event caused by secondary effects related to the bolide impact at Chicxulub. A thin, dark clay bed immediately above the redeposited chalks, we suggest correlates to the outcropping, Iridium rich, Danish ‘Fish Clay’, rapidly deposited after the impact. Physical effects on sea-floor sediments, caused by the K-T bolide impact, have not previously been interpreted in the North Sea.

Keywords

K-T boundarybolide impactredeposited chalkslump
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 82 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 333 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2003

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