Sea Floor Sampling: Pre Rift Sediments at hand from the Vøring Transform Margin!

Newly acquired seismic data by TGS-NOPEC in the Norwegian Sea disclosed that pre rift sediments of Paleocene and Cretaceous age might outcrop along the Vøring Transform Margin. In this unique location the sedimentary rocks are exposed on the sea floor due to localized rift flank uplift.

The outer Vøring and Møre basins are areas of active exploration. However, the complex geology of the SW Vøring and NW Møre Basin is poorly known. No wells have been drilled nearby, and sea floor sampling has not previously been attempted since this location was previously poorly imaged by seismic data.

Using the vessel R/V Håkon Mosby, TGS-NOPEC and Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR) successfully completed a multi-client exploratory sea floor sampling cruise along selected seismic profiles.

Shipboard evaluation of the sampled rocks indicates that important information about the hydrocarbon potential, basin dynamics, the Cretaceous-Eocene paleoenvironment, heat flow and volcanism in the outer Vøring and Møre basins has been obtained.

The cruise will be followed up by further evaluation of the recovered samples and the existing seismic data. The cruise report will contain results from paleontological, sedimentological and geochemical analysis. Rock samples will be available for participating companies.