Wessex Basin
Petroliferous geological area on the southern coast of England and the English Channel / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Wessex Basin is a petroleum-bearing geological area located along the southern coast of England and extending into the English Channel.[1] The onshore part of the basin covers approximately 20,000 km2 and the area that encompasses the English Channel is of similar size.[2] The basin is a rift basin that was created during the Permian to early Cretaceous in response to movement of the African plate relative to the Eurasian plate.[3] In the late Cretaceous, and again in the Cenozoic, the basin was inverted as a distant effect of the Alpine orogeny.[3] The basin is usually divided into 3 main sub-basins including the Winterborne-Kingston Trough, Channel Basin, and Vale of Pewsey Basin.[3] The area is also rich in hydrocarbons with several offshore wells in the area.[4] With the large interest in the hydrocarbon exploration of the area, data became more readily available, which improved the understanding of the type of inversion tectonics that characterize this basin.[3][5]