Abstract
The structural evolution of the English Channel area is controlled by structure and particularly by the pre‐existing Cadomian and Variscan crustal discontinuities, which have been reactivated repeatedly in post‐Variscan times. They controlled the crustal subsidence that produced basin development in the Mesozoic, prior to the sea‐floor spreading in the North Atlantic region. They were then reactivated during the Cenozoic compression and basin inversion. The English Channel development is ascribed to mid‐Tertiary differential uplift (Oligocene to Miocene). During late Tertiary to Quaternary times the Channel displays characteristics of a tectonically controlled fluvial basin periodically invaded by the sea. At the lithospheric scale, the Channel can be considered as an active intraplate area influenced by the NW–SE ‘Alpine push’, the NW–SE ‘Atlantic ridge push’ and glacial rebound stresses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.