Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on August 22, 2016 An overview of the Upper Palaeozoic–Mesozoic stratigraphy of the NE Atlantic region M. S. STOKER1*, M. A. STEWART1, P. M. SHANNON2, M. BJERAGER3, T. NIELSEN3, A. BLISCHKE4, B. O. HJELSTUEN5, C. GAINA6,K.MCDERMOTT2,7 &J.O´ LAVSDO´ TTIR8 1British Geological Survey, The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AP, UK 2School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland 3Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Vøldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark 4I´SOR (Iceland Geosurvey), Deptartment of Energy Technology, Rangarvellir, PO Box 30, 602 Akureyri, Iceland 5Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway 6Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, Postbox 1028, Blindern, N-0135 Oslo, Norway 7Present address: ION Geophysical, 1st Floor, Integra House, Vicarage Road, Egham TW20 9JZ, UK 8Jarðfeingi, Brekkutı´n 1, PO Box 3059, FO-110 To´rshavn, Faroe Islands *Corresponding author (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract: This study describes the distribution and stratigraphic range of the Upper Palaeozoic– Mesozoic succession in the NE Atlantic region, and is correlated between conjugate margins and along the axis of the NE Atlantic rift system. The stratigraphic framework has yielded important new constraints on the timing and nature of sedimentary basin development in the NE Atlantic, with implications for rifting and the break-up of the Pangaean supercontinent. From a regional per- spective, the Permian–Triassic succession records a northwards transition from an arid interior to a passively subsiding, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic shelf margin.