A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics
Abstract In northern Greenland in early Palaeozoic time a turbidite trough (the eastward extension of the Hazen trough of Arctic Canada) was flanked to the south by a carbonate platform. The trough was deformed during the mid-Palaeozoic Ellesmerian orogeny to form the E–W trending North Greenland fo...
Published in: | Geological Magazine |
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1987
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756800017027 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0016756800017027 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0016756800017027 2024-10-06T13:46:46+00:00 A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics Soper, N. J Higgins, A. K. 1987 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756800017027 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0016756800017027 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Geological Magazine volume 124, issue 5, page 441-450 ISSN 0016-7568 1469-5081 journal-article 1987 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0016756800017027 2024-09-11T04:04:46Z Abstract In northern Greenland in early Palaeozoic time a turbidite trough (the eastward extension of the Hazen trough of Arctic Canada) was flanked to the south by a carbonate platform. The trough was deformed during the mid-Palaeozoic Ellesmerian orogeny to form the E–W trending North Greenland fold belt. This fold belt was deformed further by Eurekan (Tertiary) structures, important among which is a major fault complex, the Harder Fjord fault zone (HFFZ). The suggestion has been made that this fault zone controlled early Cambrian sedimentation, even though the fault trace does not coincide with the trough–platform facies transition in sediments of that age; this has led to some controversy. We report new information from a mapping programme by the Geological Survey of Greenland which has established the thin-skinned nature of Ellesmerian deformation at the trough-platform transition and implies that much of the fold belt is underlain by a shallow detachment. This in turn implies that the HFFZ exists in the hanging-wall of the detachment while the early Cambrian trough-platform transition is located autochthonously in the foot-wall. We adduce evidence to show that the latter was probably controlled by syndepositional faulting with actively eroding fault scarps and suggest that these basement structures were reactivated in a dextral strike-slip mode in early Tertiary time to form the HFFZ as now observed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland North Greenland Cambridge University Press Arctic Canada Greenland Harder Fjord ENVELOPE(-37.500,-37.500,83.150,83.150) Geological Magazine 124 5 441 450 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract In northern Greenland in early Palaeozoic time a turbidite trough (the eastward extension of the Hazen trough of Arctic Canada) was flanked to the south by a carbonate platform. The trough was deformed during the mid-Palaeozoic Ellesmerian orogeny to form the E–W trending North Greenland fold belt. This fold belt was deformed further by Eurekan (Tertiary) structures, important among which is a major fault complex, the Harder Fjord fault zone (HFFZ). The suggestion has been made that this fault zone controlled early Cambrian sedimentation, even though the fault trace does not coincide with the trough–platform facies transition in sediments of that age; this has led to some controversy. We report new information from a mapping programme by the Geological Survey of Greenland which has established the thin-skinned nature of Ellesmerian deformation at the trough-platform transition and implies that much of the fold belt is underlain by a shallow detachment. This in turn implies that the HFFZ exists in the hanging-wall of the detachment while the early Cambrian trough-platform transition is located autochthonously in the foot-wall. We adduce evidence to show that the latter was probably controlled by syndepositional faulting with actively eroding fault scarps and suggest that these basement structures were reactivated in a dextral strike-slip mode in early Tertiary time to form the HFFZ as now observed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Soper, N. J Higgins, A. K. |
spellingShingle |
Soper, N. J Higgins, A. K. A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
author_facet |
Soper, N. J Higgins, A. K. |
author_sort |
Soper, N. J |
title |
A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
title_short |
A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
title_full |
A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
title_fullStr |
A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
title_full_unstemmed |
A shallow detachment beneath the North Greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
title_sort |
shallow detachment beneath the north greenland fold belt: implications for sedimentation and tectonics |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1987 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0016756800017027 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0016756800017027 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-37.500,-37.500,83.150,83.150) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Greenland Harder Fjord |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Greenland Harder Fjord |
genre |
Arctic Greenland North Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland North Greenland |
op_source |
Geological Magazine volume 124, issue 5, page 441-450 ISSN 0016-7568 1469-5081 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0016756800017027 |
container_title |
Geological Magazine |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
441 |
op_container_end_page |
450 |
_version_ |
1812175091690110976 |