Abstract This paper considers the lithospheric structure and evolution of the wider Barents–Kara Sea region based on the compilation and integration of geophysical and geological data. Regional transects are constructed at both crustal and lithospheric scales based on the available data and a regional three-dimensional model. The transects, which extend onshore and into the deep oceanic basins, are used to link deep and shallow structures and processes, as well as to link offshore and onshore areas. The study area has been affected by numerous orogenic events in the Precambrian–Cambrian (Timanian), Silurian–Devonian (Caledonian), latest Devonian–earliest Carboniferous (Ellesmerian–svalbardian), Carboniferous–Permian (Uralian), Late Triassic (Taimyr, Pai Khoi and Novaya Zemlya) and Palaeogene (Spitsbergen–Eurekan). It has also been affected by at least three episodes of regional-scale magmatism, the so-called large igneous provinces: the Siberian Traps (Permian–Triassic transition), the High Arctic Large Igneous Province (Early Cretaceous) and the North Atlantic (Paleocene–Eocene transition). Additional magmatic events occurred in parts of the study area in Devonian and Late Cretaceous times. Within this geological framework, we integrate basin development with regional tectonic events and summarize the stages in basin evolution. We further discuss the timing, causes and implications of basin evolution. Fault activity is related to regional stress regimes and the reactivation of pre-existing basement structures. Regional uplift/subsidence events are discussed in a source-to-sink context and are related to their regional tectonic and palaeogeographical settings.

Abstract The Central European Basin System (CEBS) includes the former Northern and Southern Permian Basins together with superimposed Meso-Cenozoic sub-basins and contains a thick layer of Upper Permian (Zechstein) salt. This salt was mobilized in response to several post-Permian tectonic events. In order to analyse the regional relationship between the structural pattern of the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary cover and the distribution of the Upper Permian salt, a 3D structural model of the CEBS has been constructed. In this model, the Permian salt is resolved as an extra layer for the entire basin system. According to the 3D structural model, the salt layer is strongly deformed as a result of halokinetic activity. The thickest salt is localized within salt walls and diapirs, reaching up to 9 km of thickness. A regional structural 3D analysis of the overburden in relation to underlying ductile salt demonstrates that the geometry of the sedimentary cover is strongly complicated by a variety of salt structures. The withdrawal of the Permian salt appears to have played a key role in both deposition and deformation of Meso-Cenozoic deposits in addition to tectonically forced regional subsidence.

Abstract Subsequent to the Variscan Orogeny, the lithosphere of Central Europe was subjected to a series of tectonic events in the Latest Palaeozoic and Mesozoic which were related to the ongoing breakup of Pangaea. The Early Mesozoic tectonic evolution of Central Europe was determined by its position between the stable Precambrian Baltic-East European Craton in the north and NW and two competing megarift systems in the NW, west and south. In the NW and west, the Arctic-North Atlantic rift systems heralded the later crustal separation of Laurasia while in the south, the opening of both the Tethyan oceans and the central Atlantic Ocean led to stress changes in the Central European lithosphère. During the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic, ongoing rifting resulted in crustal separation in the North Atlantic, whereas the successive closure of the Tethyan oceanic basins and continental collision between Africa and Eurasia caused compression in Central Europe. This superposition of plate-boundary-induced stresses led to the development of a complex structural pattern with subsidence and subsequent inversion of numerous sub-basins and uplift of structural highs. These sub-basins are the sites where the preserved geological record can be used to reconstruct the Mesozoic tectonic history. The aim of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the tectonic evolution of Central Europe in the period following the Variscan Orogeny, as well as to discuss the tectonic implications for the region resulting from the various plate movements involved. Detailed accounts of the palaeogeography and geology for the region are contained within the relevant Mesozoic chapters. Additionally, excellent palaeogeographic compilations are available for the Tethyan and peri-Tethyan domain (e.g. Decourt et al. 1992 , 2000 ; Golonka 2004 ; Stampfii and Borel 2004) , for the North Sea (e.g. Coward et al. 2003 ; Evans et al. 2003 ; Mosar et al 2002a, ft) and for the Norwegian Greenland Sea (e.g. Brekke 2000 ; Mosar et al. 2002a , ft; Torsvik et al. 2002 ). Our palaeotectonic maps are based on the works of Baldschuhn et al. (1996) , Coward et al. (2003) , Dadlez (1997 , 2003 ), Dadlez et al. (1998 , 2000 ); Decourt et al. (1992 , 2000) , Doré et al. (1999) , Evans et al. (2003) , Golonka (2004) , Kockel (1995) , Kockel et al. (1996) , Lokhorst (1998) , Mosar et al. (2002b) , Stampfii & Borel (2002) and Ziegler (1990 , 1999). These works are supplemented for some of the presented time slices with regional information detailed in the respective chapters.