The stratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sediments of Milne Land, central East Greenland

Abstract

The upper part of the jurassic to Lower Cretaceous succession of Milne Land, described in the present paper, represents an unusually complete, highly fossiliferous sequence of Kimmeridgian, Lower and Middle Volgian and poorly fossiliferous ?Lower Valanginian to Hauterivian deposits. On the basis of some 50 recorded sections the succession is described with respect to lithology and fossil content and placed within a lithostratigraphical frarnework. The Upper Callovian – Middle Volgian Kap Leslie Formation (overlying the Charcot Bugt Formation) is divided into eight members, the upper four of which are described in detail (Gråkløft Member, Krebsedal Member, Pernaryggen Member and Astartedal Member), while the Middle Volgian – Hauterivian Hartz Fjeld Formation above is divided into two members (Hennigryggen Member and Pinnadal Member). A succession of 34 ammonite faunas has been recorded from the Kimmeridgian to Middle Volgian succession of the area. The Kimmeridgian to Lower Volgian faunas match British faunas so closely that the standard zonation of Great Britain can be used. The 17 faunas of the Middle Volgian are closer to successions of northern Russia and Siberia, and the succession has been made the basis of a new regional zonation of nine standard zones for the Boreal Province. One Lower Cretaceous ammonite fauna has been recorded, having ?Early Valanginian age and uncertain affinities. The faunal horizons of Volgian ammonites from Milne Land figured by Spath (1936) in his classical monograph have been determined. Stratigraphically important species found since then have been described elsewhere (Callomon & Birkelund, 1982). The three main areas of outcrops, the Hartz Fjeld area, the Kronen area and the Bays Fjelde area, are correlated in detail on the basis of ammonite occurrences. The depositional environments and tectonic evolution of the Milne Land area are outlined. Some key sections of particular stratigraphical importance are described in an appendix.

Jurassic stratigraphy of East Greenland

“…The ammonite faunal horizons that provide the biostratigraphic framework for many of the units presented in this work refer to the ammonite successions described from Milne Land (Callomon & Birkelund, 1980;Birkelund et al 1984) and Jameson Land (Callomon 1993;Callomon et al 2015). Note that the numbers of the faunal horizons are given the prefixes M-and J-, to clearly differentiate those defined from Milne Land from those recognised in Jameson Land (Callomon et al 2015).…”

“…A synthesis of the Jurassic evolution of East Greenland was presented by Surlyk (2003). The lithostratigraphic scheme for the Jurassic of East Greenland was established by Surlyk et al (1973), Surlyk (1977aSurlyk ( , 1978a, Callomon & Birkelund (1980) and Birkelund et al (1984). The schemes of Surlyk (1977aSurlyk ( , 1978a, Callomon & Birkelund (1980), Birkelund et al (1984) with minor revision, Dam & Surlyk (1998) and Alsgaard et al (2003) remain essentially unchanged but are included here for the sake of completeness.…”

“…The lithostratigraphic scheme for the Jurassic of East Greenland was established by Surlyk et al (1973), Surlyk (1977aSurlyk ( , 1978a, Callomon & Birkelund (1980) and Birkelund et al (1984). The schemes of Surlyk (1977aSurlyk ( , 1978a, Callomon & Birkelund (1980), Birkelund et al (1984) with minor revision, Dam & Surlyk (1998) and Alsgaard et al (2003) remain essentially unchanged but are included here for the sake of completeness. The other schemes are updated, following sedimentological, biostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic studies of most of the formations during later years (Fig.…”

“…Key references. Aldinger (1935), Spath (1935Spath ( , 1936, Håkansson et al (1971), Callomon & Birkelund (1980, Fürsich (1982), Fürsich & Heinberg (1983), Birkelund et al (1984), Birkelund & Callomon (1985), Larsen (1995), Surlyk (2003).…”

“…Many new units have been defined since the naming of the first formations early in the 20th century. The first formal lithostratigraphic schemes covering the whole Jurassic succession, including the uppermost Triassic and lowermost Cretaceous, were established by Surlyk et al (1973) for Jameson Land, Surlyk (1977a, 1978a for the Wollaston Forland -Kuhn Ø area, and Callomon & Birkelund (1980) and Birkelund et al (1984) for Milne .…”