RiFa – “Rise and Fall”, the role of thermal uplift in the formation of Jurassic basins in the Dutch subsurface

The University of Utrecht has coordinated the TKI Rise and Fall project (RiFa) that runs from June 2018 to May 2020. The “Rise and Fall” (RiFa) project aimed to understand and quantify the regional Middle-Late Jurassic rifting mechanisms in the North Sea area.

The project has demonstrated that the previously inferred late Early – Middle Jurassic plume related thermal doming affecting large areas of the Netherlands subsurface by creating a regionally observed unconformity is not a viable working hypothesis. An alternative model is quantitatively supported to explain the North Sea Mid Cimmerian Unconformity, which is based on a combined Toarcian-Aalenian eustatic sea-level fall and early stages of rifting propagation.

This public end report presents an overview of the project and its conclusions.