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Forward and reverse stratigraphic modelling of Cretaceous-Tertiary post-rift subsidence and Paleogene uplift in the Outer Moray Firth Basin, central North Sea

Abstract The Paleogene stratigraphy in the Outer Moray Firth is part of the North Sea post-rift sedimentary sequence that was deposited in a thermally subsiding basin following Late Jurassic rifting. Previous studies have drawn attention to anomalous uplift and departure from the McKenzie (1978, Earth Planetary Science Letters, 40, 25–32) post-rift subsidence trend in the early Paleocene followed by an accelerated phase of basin subsidence in the early Eocene before returning to the normal post-rift subsidence. 2D forward and reverse stratigraphic modelling incorporating first-order global sea-level variations have been used to determine the timing and magnitude of departures from McKenzie post-rift thermal subsidence in the early Paleogene for the Outer Moray Firth. Reverse post-rift modelling, consisting of flexural backstripping, decompaction and reverse thermal subsidence, has been used to produce restored post-rift sections from present-day stratigraphy, which have been constrained by palaeobathymetric data. Forward syn-rift and post-rift structural and stratigraphic modelling uses the flexural cantilever model of rift basin formation and has been constrained by syn-rift structural data, present-day stratigraphy and palaeobathymetric markers. Forward and reverse modelling show that observed Cretaceous and Tertiary stratigraphy of the Outer Moray Firth was generated by the combined effects of inherited Late Jurassic syn-rift accommodation space, post-Jurassic rift thermal subsidence, sediment supply, long-term eustasy and an additional transient uplift event in the Paleocene. The much thicker Tertiary compared with Cretaceous can be explained by sediment infilling of starved Cretaceous palaeobathymetry. Reverse and forward post-rift modelling predict regional Paleocene uplift in the Outer Moray Firth of the order of 375–390 m (375 m reverse modelling, 390 m forward modelling), followed by c. 160 m of rapid Eocene subsidence, both superimposed on post-rift thermal subsidence following Late Jurassic rifting. Regional Paleocene uplift in the Outer Moray Firth is attributed to dynamic uplift associated with the development of the Iceland plume.