Plate tectonics
Triassic and Jurassic volcanic rifting and graben fault systems created highs and lows in the North Sea area. This was followed by late Mesozoic and Cenozoic subsidence creating the intracratonic sedimentary basin of the North Sea. This era experienced higher sea levels because of sea floor spreading, cooler lithosphere temperatures. Plate tectonics and continental orogenies combined to create the continents and the North Sea as we know them today. The final events affecting the North Sea coastline features and submarine topography occurred in the Cenozoic era.