A healed strike-slip plate boundary in North Greenland indicated through associated pull-apart basins

Abstract

In the North Atlantic, Laurentia–Eurasia break-up commenced in the Late Carboniferous, largely following the structural grain of the Caledonian Fold Belt. However, in the Arctic region, a 45° offset in the plate boundary between North Greenland and Svalbard was determined by a number of pre-Caledonian fundamental faults in North Greenland. As a result, this segment of the plate boundary experienced significant episodes of combined transtension and transpression, in part controlled by the movement of a temporarily independent Greenland Plate. Late Permian–Mesozoic deposits in the North Greenland Wandel Sea Basin record the plate-boundary history along this offset, in our view in a series of at least 20, variously disturbed, pull-apart basins, most of which can be assigned to four major episodes of pull-apart basin formation. The direction of the pre-existing fundamental faults, in combination with the regional variation in rock properties of both the basin floor and basin fill, explains the marked differences in tectonic style recorded along the plate boundary.

Tectonic inversion in the Wandel Sea Basin: A new structural model of Kilen (eastern North Greenland)

“…The Mesozoic‐Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Wandel Sea Basin in eastern North Greenland has been debated for several decades, particularly the nature of the late deformation and the problem of correlating structural events to the conjugate margin in Svalbard [ Dawes and Soper , ; Håkansson , ; Manby and Lyberis , ; Maher et al ., ; von Gosen and Piepjohn , ; Håkansson and Pedersen , ]. The seminunatak Kilen in the SE part of the Wandel Sea Basin (Figure ) is a key area for studying the regional structural evolution.…”

“…This remote area has been the target of previous expeditions resulting in diverging structural interpretations. The compressional deformation has been described as the result of transpressive dextral strike slip [ Håkansson and Pedersen , , , ] and associated to the Eurekan deformation [ von Gosen and Piepjohn , ] or preocean opening compression [ Soper et al ., ; Soper and Higgins , ; Lyberis and Manby , ; Manby and Lyberis , ; Guarnieri , ].…”

From oblique photogrammetry to a 3D model – Structural modeling of Kilen, eastern North Greenland

“…However, the nature of this deformation is debated. It has been described as the result of transpressive dextral strike slip movements by some authors (Håkansson and Pedersen, 2015, 2001Von Gosen and Piepjohn 2003) while others suggest pure compression (Lyberis and Manby, 1999;Manby and Lyberis, 2000;Soper and Higgins, 1991;Soper et al, 1982).…”

3D restoration of a Cretaceous rift basin in Kilen, eastern North Greenland

“…The presence of thick Upper Palaeozoic deposits below the Mesozoic strata is inferred based on the occurrence of the tentatively dated, Carboniferous gypsum mélange unit in central-west Kilen (Håkansson et al, 1993) exposed in the core of an anticline (Svennevig et al, 2016a, b), and the presence of thick Upper Palaeozoic deposits to the northwest at Station Nord and in the southwest at Amdrup Land (Stemmerik et al, 1996). Håkansson & Pedersen (2015) view the structural evolution of Kilen as dominated by three transtensional phases resulting in five local pull-apart basins. Their "Ingeborg Event" (Pedersen, 1988) is only indirectly detected as a structural background to the Jurassic basin formation.…”

“…suggested that all Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments were deposited in basins formed by strike-slip tectonics and transtension in the "Wandel Hav strike-slip mobile belt" (WHSSMB) of Håkansson & Pedersen (1982). Recently, Håkansson & Pedersen (2015) further extended this structural regime back into Late Permian times and suggested six generations of transtension resulting in twenty Late Permian-Late Cretaceous pull-apart basins exposed across the Wandel Sea Basin. Soper & Higgins (1991) challenged the existence of the WHSSMB since no substantial strikeslip has been demonstrated along faults in the Wandel Sea Basin, and Gosen & Piepjohn (2003) did not find any structural evidence for Jurassic and Late Cretaceous strike-slip deformation and pull-apart basins.…”