Cenozoic sediment distribution and tectonic movements in the Faroe region

A complex history of Cenozoic vertical movements in the Faroe region has been revealed from interpretation of geophysical and geological data, mainly offshore reflection seismic data, side-scan images, shallow cores, and onshore mapping. The history comprises several phases of tectonic disturbances observed at different scales. On the eastern margin of the Faroe Platform a late Eocene–early Oligocene phase of doming of the Faroe Platform has caused a postdepositional tilting of Eocene strata along the southern margin of the platform; a mid-Miocene phase of compressional tectonics is evidenced on seismic transects as gentle anticlines and associated reverse faults; and possible Pliocene uplift of the Faroe Islands is indicated by a progradational wedge of sediments deposited on the eastern Faroe Platform. At the continental margin/slope north of the Faroe Platform, reflection seismic data imaging the postbasalt sedimentary strata indicate three distinct tectonic events phases in the Eocene–Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene, respectively. In contrast to the Faroe Platform the Faroe–Shetland Channel was characterised by more or less continuous subsidence dominated throughout the Cenozoic. During the Eocene, sediments deposited in the Faroe–Shetland Channel was mostly derived from a source area on the British shelf.