Seismic stratigraphy along the East Greenland margin between 72°N 81°N

• Main Authors: Berger, Daniela, Jokat, Wilfried
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: East Greenland; Greenland
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/18042/; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.28576

Due to previous offshore investigations along the East Greenland margin between 72°N 81°N a detailed seismic stratigraphy could not be developed. The history of the Northern Hemisphere is a subject of controversy. Especially speculations about the onset of the glaciation of East Greenland varies from Plio/Pleistocene to Eocene.The seismic dataset, gathered in 2002 and 2003 along the North East Greenland margin in combination with analyses on the ODP sites 908, 909 and 913 give for the first time the possibility to provide an age estimation of the sediments between 72°N 81°N. First results show the greatest glacial sediment deposits are located beneath the East Greenland continental shelf. A basement high in the Greenland Basin (77°N 75.8°N), presumably a 230 km wide basement structure prevents continuous sediment transport from the shelf into the deep sea area in times before 14 Myrs. On the basis of our correlation we assume the ice-rafting in the Greenland Basin has probably occured since the middle Miocene.Additionally the compilation of sediment thickness provide an insight into the regional sediment distribution along the northern East Greenland margin. The sediment thickness ranges between 1 km in the Greenland Basin and up to 3.5 km in the Boreas and Molloy basins. A partially interpolation and extrapolation of ages in the region between 72 and 81°N provides a first age estimation along the northern East Greenland margin. The latest results of the age estimation will be introduced.