Geometry and kinematics of the Triassic rift basin in Jameson Land (East Greenland)

Abstract

The Triassic rift basin along the east Greenland margin described in this paper is represented by NE‐SW trending basins and highs segmented by NW‐SE trending transfer zones. Coarse‐grained sediments along the eastern side of Jameson Land are shown to be hosted in half‐graben structures belonging to the Carlsberg Fjord Basin that is bounded by NW dipping normal faults mapped and described after fieldwork in the Klitdal area in Liverpool Land. New aeromagnetic and electromagnetic data together with new drill cores allow the reinterpretation of available seismic lines showing the continuation of the Triassic rift basin toward the SW where it is buried under the Upper Triassic postrift sediments and the Jurassic successions of the Jameson Land Basin. The N‐S trending Liverpool Land, interpreted as the boundary block of the Triassic basin, is shown to represent a structural high inherited from the Late Carboniferous tectonics and faulted during the Triassic rifting. The Carlsberg Fjord Basin and the Klitdal Fault System described in this paper should be seen as analogues to the Helgeland Basin in the Norwegian offshore that is bounded by the Ylvingen Fault Zone and to the Papa and West of Shetlands Basins that are bounded by the Spine Fault. The Triassic rift zone and transfer faults on both conjugate margins show a straightforward correlation with the trends of the initial spreading line and fracture zones of the northeast Atlantic indicating a possible inheritance of the Triassic rifting.

Exhumed hydrocarbon traps on the North Atlantic margin: Stratigraphy, palaeontology, provenance and bitumen distribution, an integrated approach

“…It seems likely that this was an early expression of the Mid Jurassic tectonism and uplift, which resulted in the widespread omission of the Early Jurassic across East Greenland (Surlyk & Ineson, ). The changing stress fields related to this event appears to also be recorded in the realignment of active faulting from predominantly NE–SW during the Triassic (Andrews & Decou, ; Guarnieri et al, ) to largely N–S during the Jurassic (Price & Whitham, ).…”

“…Activation of these N–S aligned faults appears to have occurred during the Mid Jurassic Price & Whitham, ). Prior to this, those faults that can be demonstrated to have been active during the Triassic in Jameson Land were aligned NE–SW (Brethes, Guarnieri, Rasmussen, & Bauer, ; Guarnieri, Brethes, & Rasmussen, ). Splitting and narrowing of the tilted fault blocks occurred during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Surlyk, , ) accompanied by significant erosion of the uplifted footwall crests prior to the blanketing of the region with Cretaceous shales.…”

The Triassic of Traill Ø and Geographical Society Ø, East Greenland: Implications for North Atlantic palaeogeography

“…Westward thickening of the Pingo Dal Formation towards the N–S oriented Stauning Alper Fault implies that active rifting occurred during its deposition in the Early to Middle Triassic. Localized thickening across NE–SW oriented Triassic faults (Guarnieri, Brethes, & Rasmussen, ) provides further evidence for this rifting event as well as more subtle compartmentalization of the basin at this time. In contrast, the lateral continuity and tabular nature of the Late Triassic Gipsdalen and Fleming Fjord formations is consistent with an interpretation as a post‐rift succession.…”

Reconstructing drainage pathways in the North Atlantic during the Triassic utilizing heavy minerals, mineral chemistry, and detrital zircon geochronology

“…The NE-SW-oriented Triassic structural grain recognized in East Greenland and the Mid-Norway Margin (Guarnieri et al, 2017;Stoker et al, 2017) contrasts markedly with the N-S-oriented rift structures of the North Sea. The Møre-Trøndelag fault complex forms the boundary between these two domains.…”