Can lava geochemistry be utilized to aid predictive stratigraphy offshore?

Geochemical analyses of the volcanics within the on-shore successions of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) are widespread and comprise high quality analyses commonly covering the complete stratigraphy of a given area. Within the volcanic pile of the Faroe Islands, situated centrally in the NAIP, distinct geochemical trends along with geochemical ‘events’ are observed which can in some cases be correlated to other on-shore volcanic sequences of the NAIP. Using the geochemical stratigraphy observed on the Faroe Islands as an Index well for the NAIP volcanics in the West of Shetland region we propose the viability of attaining geochemical data sets of sufficient quality as to allow improved stratigraphic resolution and correlation within the off-shore setting. The integration of geochemical volcanic stratigraphy data with the already well constrained palynological framework for the paleogene basin evolution West of Shetland may provide a highly valuable line of evidence not yet available to prospective hydrocarbon exploration targets to the South and East of the Faroe Islands.