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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1992; v. 62; p. 17-20;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1992.062.01.03
© 1992 Geological Society of London

Basin Histories and Hydrocarbon Source Rocks

Basin development and petroleum potential in The Minches and Sea of the Hebrides Basins

Alan M. Stein

Dolan & Associates, 3 Old Lodge Place, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 1RQ, UK

The Minches and Sea of the Hebrides Basins lie within the inshore waters between the Outer Hebrides and the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The geological history of this area is dominated by a set of linked shear zones, trending NW-SE and NE-SW, which developed in the lower crust at around 2400 Ma. The main elements of this shear zone became the focus for tectonic, metamorphic and magmatic activity throughout the development of the Precambrian basement complex and have been repeatedly reactivated as fundamental lines of weakness up to the present day (Lailey et al. 1989). The Minches and Sea of the Hebrides Basins are westwards-thickening half-graben which developed in the hangingwall to one of these reactivated shear zones; the NE-SW trending Outer Isles Fault (Stein 1988a). The Outer Isles Fault is a major convex-up fault which extends almost to the base of the crust. The overall form and internal geometry of the Minches and Sea of the Hebrides Basins can be directly related to the three-dimensional shape of the Outer Isles Fault. Compartmentalization of the basins occurs where the Outer Isles Fault is intersected by steep faults which have reactivated the NW-SE trending shear zones (Stein & Blundell 1990).

Basin development began during the Proterozoic with at least two major rifting episodes which led to the deposition of the Torridonian Supergroup. The Proterozoic sequences are up to 8000 m thick in parts of the offshore region and are thought to comprise a mostly clastic red-bed sequence that was deposited in a

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Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2002; 24: 119 - 125.
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