Mantle shear zones and the evolution of the northern North Sea basin

Mantle reflections observed on deep seismic profiles across the northern North Sea may be tentatively interpreted as extensional shear zones. Modeling them as such explains many of the features of the basin, in particular the broad regions of postrift onlap onto the basin flanks. Consequently, it seems likely that the mantle reflections represent mantle shear zones, which control the extension of the sub-crustal lithosphere.