Permian Basin (Europe)

The European Permian Basin is a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks deposited in a large sedimentary basin during the Permian period in North Europe. The basin underlies northern Poland, northern Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and under a significant portion of the North Sea to Scotland. A major natural gas discovery was made in the Rotliegend Formation at Slochteren, Netherlands in 1959. The Rotliegend is the lower portion of the Permian sequence and consists of over 600 metres (2,000 ft) of sandstones and evaporites. It is overlain by 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) thick sequence of evaporites known as the Zechstein Formation.