Geology of the Norwegian Continental Shelf

In the preceding chapters we have included only a few regional examples and case studies because of space limitations. The present chapter will, however, provide some examples. The North Sea and other parts of the Norwegian continental shelf contain several different petroleum provinces which can illustrate some of the general principles of petroleum geology and geophysics. The geological evolution of these sedimentary basins provides a necessary background to understand the distribution of source rocks and the timing of petroleum migration. The structural history of rifted basins, passive margins and also uplifted basins such as the Barents Sea is critical to the trapping of oil and gas. These basins are very well documented by seismic and well data.