All Outputs (195)

Near-surface Palaeocene fluid flow, mineralisation and faulting at Flamborough Head, UK: new field observations and U–Pb calcite dating constraints (2020)
Journal Article
Roberts, N. M., Lee, J. K., Holdsworth, R. E., Jeans, C., Farrant, A. R., & Haslam, R. (2020). Near-surface Palaeocene fluid flow, mineralisation and faulting at Flamborough Head, UK: new field observations and U–Pb calcite dating constraints. Solid Earth, 11(5), 1931-1945. https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1931-2020

We present new field observations from Selwicks Bay, NE England, an exposure of the Flamborough Head Fault Zone (FHFZ). We combine these with U–Pb geochronology of syn- to post-tectonic calcite mineralisation to provide absolute constraints on the ti... Read More about Near-surface Palaeocene fluid flow, mineralisation and faulting at Flamborough Head, UK: new field observations and U–Pb calcite dating constraints.

Late Carboniferous dextral transpressional reactivation of the crustal-scale Walls Boundary Fault, Shetland: the role of pre-existing structures and lithological heterogeneities (2020)
Journal Article
Armitage, T. B., Watts, L. M., Holdsworth, R. E., & Strachan, R. A. (2020). Late Carboniferous dextral transpressional reactivation of the crustal-scale Walls Boundary Fault, Shetland: the role of pre-existing structures and lithological heterogeneities. Journal of the Geological Society, 178, Article jgs2020-078. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-078

The Walls Boundary Fault (WBF) in Shetland, Scotland, formed during the Ordovician-Devonian Caledonian orogeny and underwent dextral reactivation in the Late Carboniferous. In a well-exposed section at Ollaberry, westerly verging, gently plunging reg... Read More about Late Carboniferous dextral transpressional reactivation of the crustal-scale Walls Boundary Fault, Shetland: the role of pre-existing structures and lithological heterogeneities.

A bigger splat: The catastrophic geology of a 1.2-b.y.-old terrestrial megaclast, northwest Scotland (2020)
Journal Article
Killingback, Z., Holdsworth, R., Walker, R., Nielsen, S., Dempsey, E., & Hardman, K. (2020). A bigger splat: The catastrophic geology of a 1.2-b.y.-old terrestrial megaclast, northwest Scotland. Geology, 49(2), 180-184. https://doi.org/10.1130/g48079.1

Rockfalls are relatively little described from the ancient geological record, likely due to their poor preservation potential. At Clachtoll, northwest Scotland, a megaclast (100 m × 60 m × 15 m) of Neoarchean Lewisian gneiss with an estimated mass of... Read More about A bigger splat: The catastrophic geology of a 1.2-b.y.-old terrestrial megaclast, northwest Scotland.

Outcrop-scale manifestations of reactivation during multiple superimposed rifting and basin inversion events: the Devonian Orcadian Basin, northern Scotland (2020)
Journal Article
Dichiarante, A., Holdsworth, R., Dempsey, E., McCaffrey, K., & Utley, T. (2020). Outcrop-scale manifestations of reactivation during multiple superimposed rifting and basin inversion events: the Devonian Orcadian Basin, northern Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, 178(1), https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-089

The Devonian Orcadian Basin in Scotland hosts extensional fault systems assumed to be related to the initial formation of the basin, with only limited post-Devonian inversion and reactivation. However, a recent detailed structural study across Caithn... Read More about Outcrop-scale manifestations of reactivation during multiple superimposed rifting and basin inversion events: the Devonian Orcadian Basin, northern Scotland.

Basement reservoir plumbing: Fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland (2020)
Journal Article
McCaffrey, K., Holdsworth, R., Pless, J., Franklin, B., & Hardman, K. (2020). Basement reservoir plumbing: Fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(6), 1281-1293. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-143

Upfaulted ridges of Neoarchean crystalline basement rocks formed in the Faeroe-Shetland basin as a consequence of Mesozoic rift processes and are an active target for oil exploration. We carried out a comprehensive fault and fracture attribute study... Read More about Basement reservoir plumbing: Fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland.

The nature and significance of rift-related, near-surface fissure fill networks in fractured carbonates below regional unconformities (2020)
Journal Article
Hardman, K., Holdsworth, R. E., Dempsey, E., & McCaffrey, K. (2020). The nature and significance of rift-related, near-surface fissure fill networks in fractured carbonates below regional unconformities. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(6), 1168-1185. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-074

Fissure-fill networks are a widely recognized, but relatively little described, near-surface phenomenon (<1–2 km) hosted in carbonate and crystalline basement rocks below regional unconformities. Faults and fractures in otherwise tight Devonian carbo...

Fracture Attribute and Topology Characteristics of a Geothermal Reservoir: Southern Negros, Philippines (2020)
Journal Article
Pastoriza-Primaleon, L., McCaffrey, K. J., & Holdsworth, R. E. (2020). Fracture Attribute and Topology Characteristics of a Geothermal Reservoir: Southern Negros, Philippines. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(5), 1092-1106. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-126

The characterization of fracture networks using attribute and topological analyses has not been widely applied to the understanding and prediction of the secondary porosity, permeability and fluid flow characteristics of geothermal resources. We acqu... Read More about Fracture Attribute and Topology Characteristics of a Geothermal Reservoir: Southern Negros, Philippines.

Patterns of Silurian deformation and magmatism during sinistral oblique convergence, northern Scottish Caledonides (2020)
Journal Article
Strachan, R., Alsop, G., Ramezani, J., Frazer, R., Burns, I., & Holdsworth, R. (2020). Patterns of Silurian deformation and magmatism during sinistral oblique convergence, northern Scottish Caledonides. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(5), 893-910. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-039

Regional ductile thrusting and syn-kinematic granitic magmatism within the Caledonides of northern Scotland occurred within a sinistrally oblique convergent tectonic setting during the Silurian closure of the Iapetus Ocean. The highest thrust nappes... Read More about Patterns of Silurian deformation and magmatism during sinistral oblique convergence, northern Scottish Caledonides.

The nature and age of Mesoproterozoic strike-slip faulting based on Re-Os geochronology of syn-tectonic copper mineralization, Assynt Terrane, NW Scotland (2020)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, R., Selby, D., Dempsey, E., Scott, L., Hardman, K., Fallick, A., & Bullock, R. (2020). The nature and age of Mesoproterozoic strike-slip faulting based on Re-Os geochronology of syn-tectonic copper mineralization, Assynt Terrane, NW Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(4), 686-699. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-011

In ancient basement regions such as the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland, the ages of brittle deformation events are commonly poorly constrained due to a lack of datable fills. An array of NW-SE sinistral and antithetic E-W dextral faults related to a r... Read More about The nature and age of Mesoproterozoic strike-slip faulting based on Re-Os geochronology of syn-tectonic copper mineralization, Assynt Terrane, NW Scotland.

The nature and age of basement host rocks and fissure fills in the Lancaster field fractured reservoir, West of Shetland (2020)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, R., Trice, R., Hardman, K., McCaffrey, K., Morton, A., Frei, D., …Rogers, S. (2020). The nature and age of basement host rocks and fissure fills in the Lancaster field fractured reservoir, West of Shetland. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(5), 1057-1073. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-142

Hosting up to 3.3 billion barrels of oil in place, the upfaulted Precambrian crystalline rocks of the Lancaster Field, offshore west of Shetland, give key insights into how fractured hydrocarbon reservoirs can form in such old rocks. The Neoarchaean... Read More about The nature and age of basement host rocks and fissure fills in the Lancaster field fractured reservoir, West of Shetland.

Basement-cover relationships and deformation in The Northern Paraguai Belt, central Brazil: Implications for the Neoproterozoic-early palaeozoic history of western Gondwana (2020)
Journal Article
dos Santos, I. M., L. Pinheiro, R. V., Holdsworth, R. E., Nogueira, A. C. R., Santos, H. P., & Domingos, F. H. G. (2020). Basement-cover relationships and deformation in The Northern Paraguai Belt, central Brazil: Implications for the Neoproterozoic-early palaeozoic history of western Gondwana. Journal of the Geological Society, 177(3), 475-491. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2018-184

The Northern Paraguai Belt, at the SE border of the Amazonian Craton, central Brazil, has been interpreted as a Brasiliano/Pan-African (ca. 650-600 Ma) belt with a foreland basin, recording collisional polyphase tectonism and greenschist facies metam... Read More about Basement-cover relationships and deformation in The Northern Paraguai Belt, central Brazil: Implications for the Neoproterozoic-early palaeozoic history of western Gondwana.

Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic (2019)
Journal Article
Schiffer, C., Doré, A. G., Foulger, G. R., Franke, D., Geoffroy, L., Gernigon, L., …Welford, K. (2020). Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic. Earth-Science Reviews, 206, Article 102975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102975

The North Atlantic, extending from the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone to the north Norway-Greenland-Svalbard margins, is regarded as both a classic case of structural inheritance and an exemplar for the Wilson-cycle concept. This paper examines differen... Read More about Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic.

Fractured basement play development on the UK and Norwegian rifted margins (2019)
Journal Article
Trice, R., Hiorth, C., & Holdsworth, R. (2022). Fractured basement play development on the UK and Norwegian rifted margins. Geological Society Special Publications, 495, 73-97. https://doi.org/10.1144/sp495-2018-174

Fractured crystalline basement reservoirs (basement) on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) have been underexplored. Over the last 12 years, Hurricane Energy has deliberately set out to explore basement potential... Read More about Fractured basement play development on the UK and Norwegian rifted margins.

Magma-driven accommodation structures formed during sill emplacement at shallow crustal depths: The Maiden Creek sill, Henry Mountains, Utah (2019)
Journal Article
Wilson, P., McCaffrey, K., & Holdsworth, R. (2019). Magma-driven accommodation structures formed during sill emplacement at shallow crustal depths: The Maiden Creek sill, Henry Mountains, Utah. Geosphere, 15(4), 1368-1392. https://doi.org/10.1130/ges02067.1

In areas of exceptional exposure, upper-crustal intrusions and their immediate wall rocks commonly preserve direct evidence of the emplacement, magma flow pathways, and strains associated with the intrusion process. Such excellent exposure is display... Read More about Magma-driven accommodation structures formed during sill emplacement at shallow crustal depths: The Maiden Creek sill, Henry Mountains, Utah.

The Neoarchaean Uyea Gneiss Complex, Shetland: an onshore fragment of the Rae Craton on the European Plate (2019)
Journal Article
Kinny, P., Strachan, R., Fowler, M., Clark, C., Davis, S., Jahn, I., …Dempsey, E. (2019). The Neoarchaean Uyea Gneiss Complex, Shetland: an onshore fragment of the Rae Craton on the European Plate. Journal of the Geological Society, 176(5), 847-862. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-017

A tract of amphibolite facies granitic gneisses and metagabbros in northern Shetland, U.K., is here named the Uyea Gneiss Complex. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates emplacement of the igneous protoliths of the complex c. 2746–2726 Ma, at a later time than... Read More about The Neoarchaean Uyea Gneiss Complex, Shetland: an onshore fragment of the Rae Craton on the European Plate.

Natural fracture propping and earthquake-induced oil migration in fractured basement reservoirs (2019)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, R., McCaffrey, K., Dempsey, E., Roberts, N., Hardman, K., Morton, A., …Robertson, A. (2019). Natural fracture propping and earthquake-induced oil migration in fractured basement reservoirs. Geology, 47(8), 700-704. https://doi.org/10.1130/g46280.1

The geological processes that create fluid storage capacity and connectivity in global fractured basement reservoirs are poorly understood compared to conventional hydrocarbon plays. Hosting potentially multibillion barrels of oil, the upfaulted Prec... Read More about Natural fracture propping and earthquake-induced oil migration in fractured basement reservoirs.

Coseismic ultramylonites: An investigation of nanoscale viscous flow and fault weakening during seismic slip (2019)
Journal Article
Pozzi, G., De Paola, N., Holdsworth, R. E., Bowen, L., Nielsen, S. B., & Dempsey, E. D. (2019). Coseismic ultramylonites: An investigation of nanoscale viscous flow and fault weakening during seismic slip. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 516, 164-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.042

Faults weaken during the propagation of earthquakes due to the onset of thermally-activated mechanisms, which vary depending on the rock type. Recent experimental work suggests that carbonate-hosted faults are lubricated by viscous flow in nano-granu... Read More about Coseismic ultramylonites: An investigation of nanoscale viscous flow and fault weakening during seismic slip.

The nature and significance of the Faroe-Shetland Terrane: linking Archaean basement blocks across the North Atlantic (2018)
Journal Article
Holdsworth, R., Morton, A., Frei, D., Gerdes, A., Strachan, R., Dempsey, E., …Whitham, A. (2019). The nature and significance of the Faroe-Shetland Terrane: linking Archaean basement blocks across the North Atlantic. Precambrian Research, 321, 154-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2018.12.004

Core samples of the continental basement rocks that underlie the eastern Faroe-Shetland Basin (FSB) and its inshore margins west of Shetland reveal a suite of predominantly granodioritic to granitic orthogneisses (including TTG), together with lesser... Read More about The nature and significance of the Faroe-Shetland Terrane: linking Archaean basement blocks across the North Atlantic.

Tectonic evolution of the Southern Negros Geothermal Field and implications for the development of fractured geothermal systems (2018)
Journal Article
Pastoriza, L., Holdsworth, R. E., McCaffrey, K., & Dempsey, E. (2018). Tectonic evolution of the Southern Negros Geothermal Field and implications for the development of fractured geothermal systems. Geofluids, 2018, Article 6025038. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/6025038

Fluid flow pathway characterisation is critical to geothermal exploration and exploitation. In fractured geothermal reservoirs, it requires a good understanding of the structural evolution together with the fracture distribution and fluid flow proper... Read More about Tectonic evolution of the Southern Negros Geothermal Field and implications for the development of fractured geothermal systems.

A new interpretation for the nature and significance of mirror-like surfaces in experimental carbonate-hosted seismic faults (2018)
Journal Article
Pozzi, G., De Paola, N., Nielsen, S., Holdsworth, R., & Bowen, L. (2018). A new interpretation for the nature and significance of mirror-like surfaces in experimental carbonate-hosted seismic faults. Geology, 46(7), 583-586. https://doi.org/10.1130/g40197.1

Highly reflective, continuous smooth surfaces, known as "mirror-like surfaces" (MSs), have been observed in experimental carbonate-hosted faults, which were sheared at both seismic and aseismic velocities. MSs produced during high-velocity friction e... Read More about A new interpretation for the nature and significance of mirror-like surfaces in experimental carbonate-hosted seismic faults.