2000: Depositional history of the fluvial Lower Carboniferous Sortebakker Formation

• Main Authors: Finn Dalhoff, Lars Stemmerik
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carboniferous; depositional environments; North Greenland; Sortebakker Forma- tion; Wandel Sea Basin The Lower Carboniferous non-marine Sortebakker; Greenland; Holm Land; Sortebakker; Wandel; Holm land; Wandel Sea
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.577.7150; http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull-gl/nr187/nr187_p065-077.pdf

The Lower Carboniferous non-marine Sortebakker Formation is restricted to the south coast of Holm Land. It is estimated to exceed 1000 m in thickness and is subdivided by a low-angle disconformity into a lower mudstone-dominated unit (c. 335 m) and an upper sand-dominated unit (c. 665 m). The lower mudstone-dominated succession consists of stacked 0.5–6 m thick fining-upward cycles of fine- to medium-grained sandstone and mudstone. Cycles in the upper part of the formation are up to 20 m thick. They are dominated by thick tabular sandstones up to 13 m thick overlain by shaly units that resemble those in the lower mudstone dominated cycles. Six facies associations are identified and together describe a fluviatile–lacustrine deposi-tional system. Five of the facies associations characterise different parts of a meandering river-dominated flood plain whereas the sixth facies association represents more permanent lakes.