Overview and Timing of Main Structural Elements in the Northcentral Barents Sea and Impact on the L. Cretaceous Deposits

Two stages of inversion are documented in the northcentral Barents Sea: Late Jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) and the Early Cretaceous (early Valanginian-Barremian). This is characterized with formation of several paleohighs which were positive structures during the Early Cretaceous. These paleohighs acted as local sediment source for interpreted wedges and as bounding structures for the regional NE-SW progradation of the Lower Cretaceous deposition. The NW verging faults that produced NE-SW oriented structural highs are predominant in the northcentral Barents Sea. Also similar anticlines and structural highs with a dominant NE-SW orientation are observed along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya and the northern margins of the South Barents basin. All of these structural lineaments are related to a Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous compression/inversion and may indicate deformation from the East that could be responsible for the structural evolution of the northcentral Barents Sea in the Early Cretaceous.