S. Fanavoll et Sj. Lippard, POSSIBLE OBLIQUE-SLIP FAULTING IN THE SKAGERRAK-GRABEN, AS INTERPRETED FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION SEISMIC DATA, Norsk geologisk tidsskrift, 74(3), 1994, pp. 146-151
A complex NE-SW-trending zone of deformation affecting Paleozoic sedim
ents can be observed on high resolution seismic data in the Skagerrak.
The fault zone corresponds to the northern margin of the Skagerrak Gr
aben, as previously recognized on the basis of regional seismic data.
However, rather than being a major fault with downthrow to the south,
the apparent displacement on most lines is a downthrow to the north. I
n addition. in the west the sense of faulting is apparently normal, wh
ile to the east where the fault zone bends in an E-W trend it appears
to be the reverse, with indications of compression. These observations
lead to the interpretation that the deformed zone is the result of si
nistral oblique-slip movements during the late Paleozoic. The observat
ions appear to fit with the regional situation associated with the for
mation of the Oslo Graben in the late Carboniferous, East-west extensi
on, which caused the normal faulting in the Oslo Graben, could have le
d to oblique-slip movements along an existing zone of weakness strikin
g NE-SW where the movements would be sinistral.