Gzelian-Asselian depositional sequences in the western Barents Sea and North Greenland

Depositional evolution of the Upper Carboniferous – Lower Permian Wordiekammen carbonate platform, Nordfjorden High, central Spitsbergen, Arctic Norway

“…The cyclic pattern recognised in the Wordiekammen Formation resembles that reported from coeval marine successions elsewhere (Ross & Ross, 1985;Stemmerik & Worsley, 1989;Heckel, 1990;Beauchamp, 1994;Ludvig, 1994;Morin et al, 1994;Bugge et al, 1995;Stemmerik et al, 1995;Ehrenberg et al, 1998;Soreghan & Giles, 1999;Embry & Beauchamp, 2008;Stemmerik, 2008;Corrochano et al, 2012;Hill et al, 2012;Laya & Tucker, 2012). It is widely accepted to reflect the depositional response to glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations linked to the Late Palaeozoic glaciation in southern Gondwanaland (Ross & Ross, 1985;Veevers & Powell, 1987;Crowley & Baum, 1991;Soreghan & Giles, 1999).…”

“…However, the sudden arrival of two siliciclastic sandstones on the carbonate-dominated central Spitsbergen platform is a puzzle. It is generally accepted that Spitsbergen and the adjacent Barents Shelf were sites of carbonate platform deposition during the Asselian and no obvious source areas are known (Steel & Worsley, 1984;Stemmerik et al, 1995;Harland & Geddes, 1997;Samuelsberg & Pickard, 1999;Stemmerik, 2000;Larssen et al, 2005;Worsley, 2008). The sandstones can be traced eastwards across the Billefjorden Fault Zone to Bünsow Land (Dons, 1983;Samuelsberg et al, 2000), and it has been suggested that the source area was located in the north or northeast (Lauritzen et al, 1989).…”

“…It is one in a mosaic of carbonate platforms along the northern margin of the Pangean supercontinent, from Arctic Canada in the west to the northern Timan-Pechora Basin, Arctic Russia, in the east, formed during a time interval characterised by pronounced glacio-eustatic sea-level variations (Veevers & Powell, 1987;Crowley & Baum, 1991). Timeequivalent carbonates are well known from the offshore areas of the Barents Shelf where they are seen as an important reservoir target (Stemmerik et al, 1994(Stemmerik et al, , 1995(Stemmerik et al, , 1999Bugge et al, 1995;Ehrenberg et al, 1998;Worsley et al, 2001;Larssen et al, 2005;Stemmerik & Worsley, 2005;Stemmerik, 2008).…”

From detached to attached carbonate buildup complexes — 3D seismic data from the upper Palaeozoic, Finnmark Platform, southwestern Barents Sea

“…The Moscovian-early Sakmarian warm-water carbonate platform shows a distally steepening ramp profile with isolated palaeoaplysinid-phylloid algal buildups in inner and middle ramp settings (Bruce and Toomey, 1993;Bugge et al, 1995;Stemmerik et al, 1995Stemmerik et al, , 1999Ehrenberg et al, 1998;Elvebakk et al, 2002;Larssen et al, 2005). The warm-water carbonates were deposited in an icehouse world with high frequency and high amplitude sea level fluctuations.…”

“…Early studies, based on relatively sparse 2-D seismic data coverage of the southern Norwegian Barents Sea indicated the presence of numerous isolated buildups in the subsurface offshore Palaeozoic sections (e.g. Bugge et al, 1995;Blendinger et al, 1997;Ehrenberg et al, 1998;Stemmerik et al, 1995Stemmerik et al, , 1999. However, as more offshore data, particularly three dimensional (3D) seismic data have become available, our understanding of buildup geometries have changed dramatically, such that rather than being isolated mounds the buildups are now seen to form interconnected polygonal networks of laterally amalgamated and bifurcating ridges (Elvebakk et al, 2002;Samuelsberg et al, 2003;Colpaert et al, 2007).…”