在北海南部—西北德意志盆地中,迄今所发现的石炭系油气产自北西西走向的巨大地堑体系中。该盆地的面积约有30万平方公里(至少有一半位于海上),西起米德兰和苏格兰南部,东至沃索以南。地堑体系发育在晚古生代的欧洲地台的北缘,以及古生代的古地中海南端。盆地在晚泥盆世开始形成,并一直持续到 Carboniferous hydrocarbons so far found in the northwestern German basin of the North Sea, from the northwest to the west, have been found in the vast graben system. The basin covers an area of ​​about 300,000 square kilometers (at least half at sea), west of Midland and southern Scotland east of Wausau. Graben system developed in the northern margin of the Late Paleozoic Eolian platform and the Paleozoic southern tip of the ancient Mediterranean. The basin began to form in the late Devonian and lasted until