ABAL were commissioned by Nørsk Chevron A/S to provide assistance with a regional understanding of basin development and subsidence along the Norwegian Atlantic Margin. Models of rifting and plume related activity that affected basin development were constrained by forward and reverse modelling. Two dimensional restorations were performed on all models in order to test the validity and robustness of interpretations, and illustrate hydrocarbon trap development over time. The section illustrated is a crustal model of a selected line. The model shows an area of underplated crust which is crucial to explaining anomalies found beneath the original interpretations and forward / reverse (backstripped) models based on those interpretations.

This element of the study gave Chevron a greater understanding of the development of the area on a crustal scale.

Below are reverse modelling plots of the crustal model showing basin development through time. Flex software is used to evaluate post-rift history of rift basins. Post-rift layers are sequentially removed from the present day section, and effects of thermal subsidence, flexural loading of the crust and compaction are used to calculate response of deeper geometries to the backstripping. Results are also used for predictions of patterns in compaction, bathymetry, potential footwall erosion and subsidence rates through time Chevron used this element of the study for input into their heatflow models.