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Cenozoic development of northern Svalbard based on thermochronological data
Author(s) -
Dörr Nina,
Lisker Frank,
Piepjohn Karsten,
Spiegel Cornelia
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12402
Subject(s) - geology , paleontology , cenozoic , cretaceous , alpine orogeny , structural basin , paleogene , mesozoic , fission track dating , basement , sedimentary rock , geomorphology , zircon , civil engineering , engineering
Northern Svalbard represents a basement high surrounded by the Norwegian‐Greenland Sea/Fram Strait, Eurasian Basin, the Barents Shelf and the onshore Central Tertiary Basin (CTB). Published apatite fission track (AFT) data indicate Mesozoic differential, fault‐controlled uplift and exhumation of the region. Thermal history modelling of published and new AFT and (U–Th–Sm)/He ages of 51–153 Ma in the context of regional stratigraphy and geomorphology implies at least two, possibly three, uplift and exhumation stages since late Mesozoic, separated by episodes of subsidence and sediment deposition. Late Cretaceous/Palaeocene exhumation and subsequent burial appear to be related with the transition of compressional to transpressional collision of Svalbard and Greenland during the Eurekan Orogeny. Renewed exhumation since the Oligocene probably results from passive margin formation after the separation of Svalbard and Greenland, when a new offshore sedimentary basin opened west of Svalbard. Final uplift since the Miocene eventually re‐exposed the palaeosurface of northern Svalbard.