The Jan Mayen Ridge: present status

At present, there is no direct evidence of rocks predating the late Paleocene opening of the Norwegian- Greenland Sea on the Jan Mayen Ridge. A review of the available geophysical data, DSDP drilling results and plate tectonic reconstructions convincingly indicates a continental nature of the northe...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Myhre, Annik M., Eldholm, Olav, Sundvor, Eirik
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 1984
Subjects:
Greenland
Norway
Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen Ridge
Greenland Sea
Iceland
Polar Research
Online Access:https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2534
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v2i1.6961
Description
Summary:At present, there is no direct evidence of rocks predating the late Paleocene opening of the Norwegian- Greenland Sea on the Jan Mayen Ridge. A review of the available geophysical data, DSDP drilling results and plate tectonic reconstructions convincingly indicates a continental nature of the northern part of the ridge. On the other hand, there is still considerable uncertainty about the southern part of the ridge and its possible continuation towards Iceland. Two reflectors, A and 0, have been mapped regionally. A appears to reflect an unconformity of middle Oligocene age. Most investigators have indicated that 0 forms a late Paleocene rift unconformity associated with the opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. By analogy with the North Sea and the continental margin off Norway we propose that it should be investigated whether this reflector might be older, relating to an earlier Mesozoic regime of tension.

Similar Items