EARLY TERTIARY SEDIMENTATION AND SALT TECTONICS IN THE NORDKAPP BASIN, SOUTHERN BARENTS-SEA

Detailed seismic interpretation of the early Tertiary sediments in the Nordkapp Basin (southern Barents Sea) has revealed the nature of sedi mentation within a basin strongly influenced by salt diapirism. Two ph ases of reactivation of salt movement have been defined, and are thoug ht to reflect reactivation of older fault regimes in the Barents Sea d uring the earliest phase of sea-floor spreading in the Norwegian-Green land Sea. Earliest Palaeocene deposition was characterized by sediment gravity flows along the eastern basin margin and along intrabasinal h ighs. During a relative sea-level rise in mid/late Palaeocene, hemipel agic deposition prevailed in the Nordkapp Basin. Late Palaeocene/early Eocene sedimentation was dominated by progradation From the Finnmark Platform into the Nordkapp Basin.