In this thesis, a detailed tectonic and stratigraphic reconstruction of the development of the southern part of the Late Palaeocene - Oligocene Dutch North Sea Basin is presented. The research concentrates on fault geometry and sedimentary architecture in response to tectonic activity. The aim of this research is to gain an improved insight in the mechanics of inversion tectonics, when multiple inversion phases occurred in separate pulses. The research is based on seismic and well data, which cover a significant part of the Dutch offshore territory. Tectonic subsidence and uplift are quantified, and sources of lithospheric stress identified. Sequence stratigraphic correlation improves the temporal resolution of reconstructions. The Dutch part of the North Sea Basin has experienced distinct pulses of tectonic activity since the Late Palaeozoic. Activity started with rifting, which resulted in the formation of the Broad Fourteens Basin (BFB), and continued with tectonic inversion and associated uplift during the Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic. After cessation of the Palaeocene Laramide phase, several episodes of minor tectonic activity have been detected, which occurred from the Late Ypresian to the Bartonian. These tectonic pulses resulted in reduced subsidence and uplift. Unfortunately, Early Oligocene erosion removed much of the Ypresian-Bartonian sediments in the study area, which obscured the evidence of these intervals of tectonic activity. It is, therefore, not a surprise that this activity has been unnoticed until now. However, the events can be correlated to intervals of tectonic activity in areas surrounding the Netherlands territory, which indicates their regional importance. The inverted BFB and the southern North Sea were uplifted in response to compressional stress associated with the Eocene-Oligocene Pyrenean phase. The response is of a different nature than during earlier phases of compression. An area more than twice the width of the Mesozoic BFB was uplifted. This is probably the result of a ...