Svalbard: a fragment of the Laurentian margin

Abstract

The last decade of structural and isotope-age dating studies in Svalbard and East Greenland has provided strong support for the close correlation of these segments of the Caledonide Orogen, as had previously been inferred from stratigraphic evidence. Prior to Tertiary opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Svalbard's Caledonian terranes were an essential part of the Laurentian margin, as witnessed not only by the Early Palaeozoic depositional environments and fauna, but also by the character of the Palaeoproterozoic basement, the Meso-to Neoproterozoic cover, the evidence of late Grenvillian tectono-thermal activity, Caledonian structural style and timing of movements, Caledonian granitic magmatism and Old Red Sandstone (ORS) deposition.Recently published maps of East Greenland show the hinterland allochthons of central East Greenland to strike out obliquely into the continental shelf. The hypothesis promoted here requires that they continue offshore northwards, extending to the northern edge of the NE Greenland shelf and that most of the Svalbard terranes were northerly continuations of the East Greenland Caledonides. Only along the west coast of central Spitsbergen are 'foreign' terranes exposed that have affinity with Pearya, having been located north of the North Greenland foldbelt, apparently unrelated to Laurentia, prior to Ellesmerian Orogeny,The unambiguous affinity of the Svalbardian and Greenlandian (Laurentian) Caledonides contrasts markedly with the Timanide evolution of northeastern Baltica. It confirms previous interpretations that an important Caledonian suture-zone transgresses northeastwards across the Barents Sea, separating Laurentian domains in the NW from the Timanides of Baltica in the SE. The Timanides of northeastern Europe are truncated by, and terminate in the Barentsian Caledonides of the Barents Shelf.

Laurentian margin evolution and the Caledonian orogeny—A template for Scotland and East Greenland

“…1). There is systematic thickening of the successions from inboard to outboard positions in the sector and the pattern of N-S facies belts configures a slowly subsiding but relatively stable continental margin which must have extended beyond and included northeastern Svalbard at this time (Gee and Teben'kov, 2004).…”

The Ordovician Succession Adjacent to Hinlopenstretet, Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen

“…The Kap Sparre Formation in Nordauslandet on the eastern side of Hinlopenstretet is correlative to the Olsobreen Group, but high-resolution comparisons of the two are hampered by a of lack of biostratigraphic data in the former (Stouge et al, 2011). The preCarboniferous basement of the Svalbard archipelago consists of a number of tectonostratigraphically distinct terranes that were stretched along the margin of Laurentia in pre-Caledonian times (Gee and Page, 1994;Gee and Teben'kov, 2004). The study area is part of the Nordaustlandet terranes of eastern Svalbard, which in tectonic reconstructions are placed in close proximity to the Franz Joseph allochthon of northeastern Greenland (Smith and Rasmussen, 2008).…”

“…During the mid-Paleozoic the sediments of the Hinlopenstretet Supergroup underwent minor folding with predominant NNW-SSE strike directions (Harland, 1997). The Hinlopenstretet Supergroup is generally little or not metamorphosed (Gee and Teben'kov, 2004).…”

Magmatic and metamorphic events recorded within the Southwestern Basement Province of Svalbard

“…The crystalline Caledonian basement of Svalbard is divided into three provinces, namely Northeastern, Northwestern and Southwestern ( [10,15]; Fig. 1).…”

“…The boundary of the Southwestern and Northwestern provinces is hidden under the front of the Paleogene West Spitsbergen Fold and Thrust Belt, whereas the contact of the Southwestern and Northeastern provinces does not crop out and it is only hypothesized to be, per analogy, a strike-slip tectonic zone (e.g. [15]). This paper focuses on the Southwestern Basement Province (SBP; Fig.…”