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Middle–Late Triassic evolution of the Jameson Land Basin, East Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2020

Steven D. Andrews Open the ORCID record for Steven D. Andrews [Opens in a new window] ,
Andrew Morton  and
Audrey Decou
Steven D. Andrews*
Affiliation:
University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, UK CASP, West Building, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
Andrew Morton
Affiliation:
CASP, West Building, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK HM Research Associates Ltd, Giddanmu, St Ishmaels, UK
Audrey Decou
Affiliation:
University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Steven Andrews, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Jameson Land Basin lies within the Greenland–Norway rift, to the south of Triassic basins on the Halten Bank and East Greenland shelf, and can therefore offer insights into the development of these less-well-documented offshore basins and the wider North Atlantic. This study focuses on the stratigraphic development of the Jameson Land Basin. Broad-scale stratigraphic logging is augmented with heavy mineral analysis that constrains the dominant source catchments during this period. A thickness of over 1.5 km of Middle–Late Triassic strata fill the Jameson Land Basin, predominantly comprising continental deposits laid down during arid to semi-arid climatic conditions. The basal Pingo Dal Group thickens westwards into the Stauning Alper Fault, forming a typical syn-rift succession. Thickness variations have also highlighted the presence of an intrabasinal high and an associated unconformity between the Pingo Dal Group and the overlying Gipsdalen Group, which provides the first direct evidence for Middle–Late Triassic rifting in East Greenland. Thickness variations in the overlying Gipsdalen Group are more subdued, and the Fleming Fjord Group, and its formations, display remarkably tabular geometries, with little evidence for significant lateral facies variance; this is suggestive of reduced topography and a more regional thermal subsidence signature. Provenance data indicate sediment sourcing from both the western and eastern basin margins during the deposition of the Pingo Dal Group, above which the western source area becomes dominant, alongside some axial input from the south.

Keywords

TriassicNorth AtlanticGreenlandprovenancestratigraphyrifting
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 5 , May 2021 , pp. 930 - 949
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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