Some aspects of Tertiary tectonics and sedimentation along the western Barents Shelf

Svalbard-Barents Sea correlation: a short review

“…Possible early Paleocene shales are noted in the Bj0rn0ya Basin, corresponding to the transgressive, fluviodeltaic-marine FirkantenBasilika Formation package on Spitsbergen ( Fig. 3; Kellogg, 1975;Steel et al, 1981Steel et al, ,1985N0ttvedt et al, 1988b). In late Paleocene, draping shales of uniform thickness were deposited across most of the southwestern Barents Sea area.…”

“…Mixed continental/ marine elastics on Spitsbergen are contemporaneous with dominantly marine shales in the Troms0 and Bj0rn0ya Basins, Bj0rn0ya West Area and Stappen High. A discussion on the tectonostratigraphic correlation of the early Tertiary crustal break-up along the western Barents Shelf margin has previously been presented (Faleide et al, 1984(Faleide et al, , 1988Spencer et al, 1984;Dowling, 1988;N0ttvedt et al, 1988b;Vorren et al, 1991). Dowdeswell (1988a, b) and Ziegler (1988) provide discussions on the superregional Arctic evolution.…”

“…The Central Spitsbergen Basin formed as a foreland depression in front of early Tertiary folding and thrusting in the West Spitsbergen Orogenic Belt (Harland, 1969;Kellogg, 1975;Steel et al, 1985;N0ttvedt et al, 1988a;Heiland-Hansen, 1990). The West Spitsbergen Orogenic Belt passes southwards into the Stappen High, which shows a history of both extensional footwall uplift and compressional reactivation (Faleide et al, 1988;N0ttvedt et al, 1988b). The Central Spitsbergen Basin, as a depression, is similarly contiguous southwards with the S0rkapp Basin.…”

“…2). During the past few years it has been well documented, however, that the entire Barents Shelf region has been uplifted and eroded to various degrees in the late Cenozoic, overprinting the previous "basin and high" configuration (N0ttvedt et al, 1988b(N0ttvedt et al, , Vorren et al, 1989(N0ttvedt et al, , 1991. This was probably, to a large extent, coupled to glacial loading and erosion processes (Riis and Fjeldskaar, 1992 Fig.…”

“…The Stappen High is interpreted as a transtensional, footwall uplift. It is contemporaneous and continuous northwards with the transpressional West Spitsbergen Orogenic Belt, suggesting a low-angle restraining bend on the Hornsund Fault Zone (Faleide et al, 1988;N0ttvedt et al, 1988b;Vâgnes et al, 1988). Repeated coastline progradations westwards from the Stappen High during the early Eocene are contemporaneous with the regressive marine to continental Gilsonryggen-Battfjellet-Aspelintoppen Formation (early-(?…”