The main features of the tectonic structure of Spitsbergen

Sokolov, V. N.; Krasiltchikov, A. A.; Livshitz, Ju. Ja.

doi:10.1017/s001675680005247x

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(11 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The existence of the last shield has been proposed by Sokolov e t al. [5] and it extends froni Spitsbergen t o Franz Joseph Land. Its existence is, however, not well established.…”

Section: Geological Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Structure of the Barents Sea from seismic refraction

Renard

Malod

1974

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Barents Sea is underlain by a thick (up t o 5 km) sedimentary basin. Seismic refraction has outlined four main velocity discontinuities which have been correlated with geological units o n the basis of the geological history of the region. The basin is underlain by a crystalline basement, the nature of which cannot be determined on the basis of seismic velocity alone. Metamorphosed Paleozoic units (velocities around 5-4 km/sec) lie over this basement. Their thickness is not well established but appears to reach 1 or 2 km in some cases. Avery distinct and thick (up to 2.5 km) layer (4.1 km/sec) is found almost everyurhere and is thought t o correspond to a major discontinuity at the end o t the Paleozoic. This discontinuity is followed by a variable velocity layer (2.4-4 kmlsec, up to 1.2 km thick) which includes Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments and is limited to the south of the Barents Sea. The absence of thick Tertiary deposits support the idea that the Barents shelf was emergent at that time. Recent low-velocity sediments are found close to the shelf edge. -Gravity anomaly trends reflect a series of depressions of the 5.4-km/sec layer isobath map and suggest that the deeper part of the basin is made of a succession of faulted blocks or intense folds. * Contribution no. 274 of the Département Scientifique, Centre Océanologique de Bretagne.

show abstract

“…The existence of the last shield has been proposed by Sokolov e t al. [5] and it extends froni Spitsbergen t o Franz Joseph Land. Its existence is, however, not well established.…”

Section: Geological Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Structure of the Barents Sea from seismic refraction

Renard

Malod

1974

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, Nathorst (in Suess, 1888) perhaps first drew this boundary between western 'Archaean' rocks and eastern 'Hecla Hoek', a view that persisted at least until Tyrrell (1922) and long afterwards in Soviet publications (e.g. Sokolov, Krasil'shchikov & Livshits, 1968), and now revived by Manby (1990).…”

Section: B the Relationship Between The Stubendorffbreen And Lomfjmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ny Friesland Orogen, Spitsbergen

et al. 1992

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Caledonides of Ny Friesland comprise the type Hecla Hoek sequence of Svalbard, a succession of late Proterozoic to Ordovician strata greater than 18 km thick. Three supergroups constitute the sequence: the Stubendorffbreen Supergroup (Riphean), the Lomfjorden Supergroup (late Riphean-Sturtian) and the Hinlopenstretet Supergroup (Varanger-mid-Ordovician). Basement elements have recently been identified within the Stubendorffbreen Supergroup, but their extent and significance is yet to be established. The Stubendorffbreen Supergroup records the deposition of sediments and volcanics (both acid and basic) in an unstable marine environment. In contrast, the Lomfjorden and Hinlopenstretet supergroups record sedimentation in a shallow-marine, periodically emergent, stable environment without volcanism. The Ny Friesland Orogen is divided into two subterranes by the Veteranen Line, a zone of attenuation along which sinistral strike-slip displacement has occurred. This line separates the strongly deformed Stubendorffbreen Supergroup rocks in the west from the less-intensely deformed Lomfjorden and Hinlopenstretet supergroup rocks in the east. Despite these contrasts and the obvious displacement, there is no evidence that a significant stratigraphie break occurs across it.All the supergroups were deformed and metamorphosed during the late Ordovician-Silurian Ny Friesland Orogeny. Early compressional deformation produced isoclinal folding and nappes in the Stubendorffbreen Supergroup rocks, accompanied by amphibolite faciès metamorphism; deformation in the Lomfjorden and Hinlopenstretet supergroups was less intense with open, upright folds and greenschist or subgreenschist facies metamorphism. Early compression was followed by a Silurian transpressive deformation that generated a pervasive lineation in the Stubendorffbreen Supergroup rocks. Transpressive deformation and the associated sinistral strike-slip was focused where strata were in a near-vertical attitude conducive to displacement. At a late stage in the orogeny, and probably still under a strike-slip regime, batholiths were emplaced into rocks east of the Veteranen Line.As a result of continued sinistral displacement (transpression, transcurrence and transtension) along the Billefjorden Fault Zone, Ny Friesland (part of the Eastern Province of Svalbard) finally docked against the Central Province during the late Devonian Svalbardian movements. At the same time, the Central Province docked against the Western Province. In total, hundreds of kilometres of Caledonian displacement along the Billefjorden Fault Zone brought the Eastern and Central provinces into their present positions. Pre-Carboniferous Svalbard is thus a composite terrane of at least three provinces, each comprising more than one minor terrane.

show abstract

“…Harland 1961Harland , 1965Harland , 1969Sokolov, Krasiltchikov & Livshitz 1968;Kellogg 1975;Faleide, Gudlaugsson & Jacquart 1984). Two events dominate that history and both are related to the movement of Greenland along the western edge of the Barents shelf.…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Harland et al (1974) suggested that at least 200 km, and as much as loo0 km, of transcurrent displacement may have been accomodated by the Billifjorden Fault Zone, or have been distributed among two or more faults, at that time. The major faults, along which motion occurred, run predominatly N-S and form the boundaries of the main structural elements of the archipelago (Sokolov et al 1968). Harland (1979) points out, however, that these faults are seldom observed directly because they pass through zones of poor exposure, or are covered by surficial deposits, ice, or water.…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismicity and present-day tectonics of the Svalbard region

Mitchell

Bungum

Chan

et al. 1990

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

S U M M A R YData collected by temporary seismic networks and individual stations over a 7-yr period in the Svalbard Archipelago are integrated and used to study the seismicity and present-day tectonics of the archipelago and surrounding regions. Most of the continental seismic activity occurs in three concentrated zones, one in Heer Land near the eastern coast of the island of Spitsbergen and two, in close proximity to one another, on the island of Nordaustlandet. All three zones are in regions which have been devoid of major orogenic activity since the late Devonian. The Heer Land zone and at least one of the zones in Nordaustlandet define active faulting which has not been identified by surface mapping. The other zone in Nordaustlandet occurs in the region of a mapped system of faults, all branches of which are relatively minor. A number of smaller concentrations and individual earthquakes occur throughout much of the archipelago and surrounding continental shelves. Seismicity is currently low in the region of Tertiary orogenic activity in western Spitsbergen. A roughly linear pattern of minor activity in southern Spitsbergen occurs west of the Heer Land zone and extends at least 50km southward. The major N-S faults in Spitsbergen which are thought to have accomodated large displacements in Devonian time are currently inactive, except perhaps at the southern termini of the Billefjorden and Lomfjorden fault zones, where they approach the Heer land seismic zone. Earthquakes located near the western continental margin of Spitsbergen may occur on segments of rifting and shearing which reflect the opening of the Greenland Sea during the Tertiary. The limited extent of the currently active zones of activity, their spatial stability over several years, and the lack of activity on the major faults of Svalbard argue against the existence of plate boundaries, along which motion is currently occurring, in the Svalbard region.All fault-plane solutions on Svalbard are consistent with a stress field characterized by E-W compression, whereas previously published fault-plane solutions for the ridge system west of Svalbard indicate E-W extension. The magnitude of the compressive stress increases from small values near the ridge system to values sufficiently large to dominate the regional seismicity of Svalbard over distances of 200-300 km.

show abstract

The main features of the tectonic structure of Spitsbergen

Abstract: The Spitsbergen archipelago is situated in the north-westernmost part of the Barents Shelf. The structural position of the archipelago and the variety of its geological complexes make this region very important for understanding the tectonic history of the Atlantic sector of the Arctic.

Cited by 15 publications

References 13 publications

Structure of the Barents Sea from seismic refraction

Structure of the Barents Sea from seismic refraction

The Ny Friesland Orogen, Spitsbergen

Seismicity and present-day tectonics of the Svalbard region

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About