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Glacial or non-glacial origin for the Bigganjargga tillite, Finnmark, northern Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

P. A. Jensen  and
E. Wulff-Pedersen
P. A. Jensen
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology & Geology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
E. Wulff-Pedersen
Affiliation:
Mineralogical-Geological Museum, University of Oslo, Sarsgate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
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Abstract

Bigganjargga is the classic locality for the Varangian ice age in northern Scandinavia. The presence of two sets of striations on the underlying quartzite basement has been taken as evidence for a glacial origin of the Bigganjargga diamictite. However, soft-sediment surface structures on the underlying sandstone indicate that it was not consolidated when the diamictite was emplaced. Together with structures in the diamictite this shows that the deposit formed as a debris flow moving northwestwards over an unconsolidated substrate. There is no evidence for glacial origin or contribution for the diamictite material.

Type
Research Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 133 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 137 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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