Tectonostratigraphy of a rift basin affected by salt tectonics; synrift Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Dutch Central Graben, Terschelling Basin and neighbouring platforms, Dutch offshore

The Middle Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous in the eastern Dutch offshore provides excellent examples of sand-rich sediments that locally accumulated in the vicinity of rift basin margins affected by salt tectonics. These types of deposits are often geographically restricted and difficult to identify, but can be valuable targets for hydrocarbon exploration. The distribution, thickness and preservation potential of fluvio-lacustrine, shallow- and deep-marine sediments is discussed to provide new insights into the regional and local tectonostratigraphy of the Dutch Central Graben, the Terschelling Basin and their neighbouring platforms. New sedimentological, geochemical, biostratigraphic, stratigraphic and structural information have been analysed and integrated into a new tectonostratigraphic model for the Callovian Lower Graben Formation, Oxfordian Middle and Upper Graben formations, Early–Middle Volgian Terschelling Sandstone and Noordvaarder members, and the Late Volgian– Early Ryazanian Scruff Greensand Formation. It is demonstrated that salt withdrawal at the basin axis was the primary control on the generation of high accommodation during the Callovian–Early Kimmeridgian. Incised valleys developed on the platforms providing lateral sediment input. During the Late Kimmeridgian–Ryazanian salt migration shifted laterally towards the basin margins, providing accommodation adjacent to active salt bodies and deposition of overthickened sandy strata.