*2.2. Mesozoic*

The onset of salt mobilization and diapirism occurred during the earliest Triassic, and it was triggered by basement-involved extension and di fferential loading induced by prograding siliciclastic sediments sourced from the Uralides [14,18,19,31]. Minibasin growth and diapir uplift ceased by the end of the Middle Triassic due to welding of the underlying salt [14,18]. Diapir growth after the Middle Triassic is attributed to evacuation of remaining salt adjacent to diapirs and basinward suprasalt gliding and contraction [14]. The Triassic minibasins of the Nordkapp Basin record the NW-SE transgressive-regressive fluviodeltaic systems of the Sassendalen and Kapp Toscana groups, which progressively prograded towards the NW of the Barents Shelf (Figure 1C) [32–35]. Based on the Goliat discovery in the Hammerfest Basin, oil and gas-prone source rocks may be present in the Sansendalen Group, whereas shallow marine and fluviodeltaic reservoirs can be present in the Sassendalen and Kapp Toscana groups [5,17].

The Late Triassic-Early Jurassic was marked by a regional decrease in accommodation in the Barents Shelf, including the Nordkapp Basin [36]. This resulted in a complex drainage system characterized by erosion and reworking of previous Triassic deposits, which favored the deposition of shallow marine and fluviodeltaic Lower Jurassic reservoirs of good quality (e.g., Stø Formation in the Kapp Toscana Group) [17]. A new episode of extension associated with the initial opening of the North Atlantic to the west of the Barents Shelf [21], partially a ffected the Nordkapp Basin during the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous [12] (Figure 1C). Normal fault systems at basin boundaries caused basinward gravity gliding of suprasalt strata and subsequent thin-skinned contraction and growth of pre-existing diapirs [14]. Lower Jurassic deposits were flooded and overlain by the Upper Jurassic marine black shales of the Hekkingen Formation, which is considered to be a potential source rock in the Barents Sea [16,17]. These marine shales were in turn covered by Lower Cretaceous, SSW prograding sediments sourced from the northern Barents Shelf [37,38].
