The continuation of the Mull Dyke Swarm into the Southern North Sea

Abstract

We present new geophysical observations of the Mull Dyke Swarm in the Southern North Sea. Two- and three-dimensional seismic reflection and aeromagnetic data were used to map the dykes. The three main dyke groups recognized onshore (Cleveland, Blyth and Hawick–Acklington) are found to extend to varying distances into the North Sea, crossing a number of major crustal-scale fault zones and domain boundaries, with almost no reorientation. The Blyth Dyke Group extends furthest, for a distance of 672 km from the source on Mull. The seismic data show extensive development of pit chain craters above the upper tips of these dykes, which can be approximately dated to the late Paleocene from the ages of crater fills. Volumetric estimates are made of the intrusive volumes associated with each group, ranging from 90 to 202 km 3 . These three main axes of intrusion probably formed in different intrusive events within a c. 1 myr period, from 59 to 58 Ma, during magnetic chron C26R.