Abstract The search for a gas source near to Apache's Forties Field in the North Sea was motivated by the prediction of an ever-increasing fuel gas shortfall as the field oil rate declined. The Central North Sea is well known for a large number of shallow gas hazards in the Pleistocene section that have historically caused blowouts during exploration and development. These gas accumulations typically show up as small bright anomalies on seismic data. In 2009, a large gas anomaly was identified to the east of Forties, and the Aviat Field was discovered in 2010 when exploration well 22/7-5 was drilled. The Aviat Field reservoir is interpreted to be a subaqueous glacial outwash fan, consisting of silt-grade, rock flour material, deposited in front of a grounded ice sheet in some 400 m of water. Aviat sits on an overcompacted silty mudstone that was deformed by this ice sheet – the Crenulate Marker. The distribution of this horizon implies that the Early Pleistocene ice sheet covered at least the northern half of the UK North Sea. Although the Aviat reservoir is thin (2–9 m thick), the well tests, pressure profiles and geophysical response demonstrate that the reservoir is well connected, extensive (over 35 km 2 ) with high deliverability (up to 18 MMscfd achieved). Aviat was sanctioned in 2014 for development as a fuel gas supply for the Forties Field, with first gas achieved in July 2016.

Abstract A complete sequence of glacial deposits and moraines within the same valley system in the Maritime Alps, spanning from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Little Ice Age is presented. The sequence is geomorphologically and morphostratigraphically coherent and most stadials have been chronologically constrained by their cosmogenic exposure ages, lichenometry and by correlation with radiocarbon-dated moraines in neighbouring valleys. The shape, extent and thickness of the palaeoglaciers at each stadial have also been reconstructed and their equilibrium line altitude calculated. The LGM moraine of the Gesso Basin bears a similar equilibrium line altitude and age to that of other LGM moraines across the Alps. The recognized Late-glacial stadials show strong similarities with the corresponding stadials of the central–eastern Alpine valleys, such as Gschnitz, Bühl, Daun and Egesen. The recalculation of the exposure ages of moraine boulders with a new production rate better defines the LGM (24.0 ka) and the Egesen Stadial (13.0 ka), while the Bühl Stadial (18.5 ka) is dated for the first time in the Alps. Three early Holocene glacial advances are defined and correlated to the Kartell, Kromer and Göschenen I stadials, widely recognized in other Alpine sectors. Lichenometric dates indicate a three-fold oscillation during the Little Ice Age (thirteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth centuries).