The oldest sedimentary rocks penetrated by exploration wells on the northeastern Møre Basin margin are of Early Triassic age. These sediments were deposited in a continental, arid climate. A large hiatus separates these sedimentary rocks from the overlying Jurassic strata of Bathonian age, which were deposited in a humid continental environment. Marginal marine conditions were first established in early Callovian times, and late Middle Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous sediments were deposited in a fully marine anoxic to suboxic environment. Early Cretaceous sediments were deposited in a dominantly oxic, marine environment. Extensional tectonic movements were probably initiated during Early to Middle Triassic times. This caused erosion of local highs, while basinal areas underwent subsidence and sediment accumulation. A phase of uplift and erosion took place between late Early Jurassic and early Middle Jurassic times. In Bathonian times rift movements resumed, but fault block rotation was relatively gentle and gradual until the end of the Kimmeridgian. Extension and fault block rotation accelerated in early Volgian times, and climaxed in middle Volgian times, resulting in present day dips of up to 50'. The area went in to a thermal relaxation phase in earliest Cretaceous times with relatively uniform subsidence, although some of the major faults remained active until Turonian times.

Kees Jongepier, Janne Cecilie Rui & Kjersti Grue, Norsk Hydro a.s, P.O. Box 200, N-1321 Stabekk, Norway.