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Mesozoic extension versus Tertiary compression along the Billefjorden Fault Zone south of Isfjorden, central Spitsbergen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Pål Haremo ,
Arild Andresen  and
Henning Dypvik
Pål Haremo
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Arild Andresen
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Henning Dypvik
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
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Abstract

The Billefjorden Fault Zone displays a complex tectonic history going back into Precambrian times. Observed thickness variations within Mesozoic sequences across the fault zone have previously been related to Mesozoic extensional movements along the fault zone. Recent structural, stratigraphical and sedimentological investigations suggest that the thicknessvariation observed across the fault zone is due to Tertiary compressional tectonics, and that Mesozoic extensional movements are minor or nonexistent.Tertiary deformation is characterized by a combined thin-skinned/thick-skinned structural style. Thin-skinned thrusting is due to the development of décollement zones in the Jurassic/Cretaceous Janusfjellet Subgroup and in the Triassic Sassendalen Group. Thick-skinned faulting is related to reverse faulting along a steep, east-dipping fault rooted in the pre-Mesozoic basement. Interacting thin-skinned thrusting and thick-skinned faulting has resulted in out-of-sequence thrusting, and is responsible for the thinning of Mesozoic sequences across the fault zone.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 130 , Issue 6 , November 1993 , pp. 783 - 795
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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