Oil and gas from the North Sea and the neighboring areas have made Scotland and Norway rich in recent decades. Now Aberdeen University researchers report that a previously unobserved area on the seafloor could offer the potential for more deposits. Specifically, it is about an area of ​​7000 square kilometers, which is about half the size of Schleswig-Holstein.

A team led by geo-scientist Nick Schofield took a closer look at the so-called Rattray Volcanic Province off the coast of Scotland. Previously, it was believed that the subsoil in the sea area near Aberdeen is dominated by the remnants of the magma chambers of three volcanoes. These are said to have erupted about 165 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic period. At that time, the geological activity in the area had almost made the British Isles completely separated from the rest of Europe - in this case they would be off the coast of North America today.

This did not happen. However, researchers have previously assumed that the near-separation was not only accompanied by earthquakes, but also by the eruption of several volcanoes. And their underground magma chambers would have meant that deposits of oil and gas could not have formed in the area of ​​the Rattray Volcanic Province - because the necessary sedimentary rock was missing for storage.

3D seismic and core data evaluated

Due to the assumption had been looking for in the area so far not for reservoirs - apparently wrong, as the scientists report in the journal "Journal of the Geological Society". The article was published in November last year, but is only now receiving more attention through a press release from the university.

The conclusion of the researchers after the evaluation of 3D seismic and core data: The volcanoes probably never existed. Instead, lava has come up through cracks. This means that the search for oil and gas in the area might well be worthwhile. So to speak, researchers have got back a lot of interesting volumes of rock - and this in one of the most productive production provinces in the world, according to researcher Schofield.

But scientists do not know yet whether there are actually any occurrences - just as little as the question of how ecologically or economically sensible their production would be at some stage is.