The Lofoten-Vesterålen continental margin (Fig. 1) marks the transition between the much wider, passive continental Møre-Vøring margin (Blystad et al. 1995; Brekke 2000) and the sheared, transform Barents Sea margin (Talwani & Eldholm 1977; Gabrielsen et al. 1990; Faleide et al. 1993). It is, thus, a key region for plate reconstruction and tectonic linkage of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea margins as well as for onshore-offshore structural comparison. The margin comprises a narrow and thin crustal segment underlain by a Permian through Palaeogene clastic sedimentary wedge (Fig. 1) and bounded seaward by Palaeocene to Eocene oceanfloor volcanites (Eldholm et al. 1979; Sellevoll et al.

1988; Mjelde et al. 1993). The region is structurally complex and made up of shelf-parallel basement ridges and shallow-seated, mainly Cretaeceous basins bounded by complex extensional fault systems (Mokhtari & Pegrum 1992; Blystad et al. 1995; Løseth & Tveten 1996; Olesen et al. 1997; Tsikalas et al. 2001, 2005). Despite this general knowledge of the shelf, many important and unresolved issues remain before a fully integrated onshore-offshore tectonic model can be developed. One issue is concerned with the evolution and timing of fault groups and their link to tectonic events. This paper debates on whether faults formed during a prolonged Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous tectonic event (cf. Blystad et al 1995; Brekke