In-situ weathered bedrock, saprolite, is locally found in Scandinavia, where it is commonly thought to represent pre-Pleistocene weathering possibly associated with landscape formation. The age of weathering, however, remains loosely constrained, which has an impact on existing geological and landscape evolution models and morphotectonic correlations. Here we provide new geochronological evidence that some of the low-altitude basement landforms on- and offshore southwestern Scandinavia are a rejuvenated geomorphological relic from Mesozoic times. K-Ar dating of authigenic, syn-weathering illite from saprolitic remnants constrains original basement exposure in the Late Triassic (221.3±7.0–206.2±4.2 Ma) through deep weathering in a warm climate and subsequent partial mobilization of the saprolitic mantle into the overlying sediment cascade system. The data support the bulk geomorphological development of west Scandinavia coastal basement rocks during the Mesozoic and later, long-lasting relative tectonic stability. Pleistocene glaciations played an additional geomorphological role, selectively stripping the landscape from the Mesozoic overburden and carving glacial landforms down to Plio–Pleistocene times. Saprolite K-Ar dating offers unprecedented possibilities to study past weathering and landscape evolution processes.
As part of the recent discoveries on the Utsira High (Edvard Grieg and Johan Sverdrup fields), altered and fractured basement rocks were for the first time shown to act as a reservoir and possible migration paths for commercial hydrocarbon deposits on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Altered basement rocks are underlying the main Upper Jurassic reservoir rocks in Johan Sverdrup and the main Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic reservoir rocks in Edvard Grieg. In the present study, eighteen basement cores from the Utsira High have been classified and investigated for signs of alteration, including subaerial weathering. The results show highly variable basement composition, including metasandstones, phyllites, granites, granodiorites and gabbroic rocks. In core view most of the basement rocks show signs of a medium to high degree of fracturing. Alteration has taken place in most of the cores, ranging from slight discoloration to disintegration along fractures, and to total fragmentation of the rock. The fragmentation of the rock is commonly associated with the dissolution of primary minerals and precipitation of secondary clays in the newly formed pore space. The upwards increasing disintegration and increasing amount of clay observed in the basement rocks from two of the wells (16/3-4 and 16/1-15) indicate that subaerial weathering was the main alteration agent.
The age and tectonic significance of two basement granitoids cored on the Utsira High, Viking Graben, North Sea, are constrained by zircon LA-ICPMS data. Syenite in well 25/10-2R is dated to 482 + 2 Ma, with 1Hf (482) values from 24.4 to 25.8, and granite in well 16/1-12 yields an age of 436 + 3 Ma with 1Hf (436) values from +3.7 to 20.5. The evolved Hf-signature of the syenite demonstrates 482
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