Fission track age determinations of rocks from north Greenland

• Main Authors: Grist, Alexander M, Zentilli, Marcos
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2011
• Subjects: Cape Back; Cape Back Formation. Tan sandstone; Cape de Fosse; Eids Formation sandstone; flysch sandstone; Cape Faraday; dyke; Cape Lawrence; Archer Fjord Formation. sandstone; Pavy Formation. (volcanogenic) sandstone; Carey Øer; Geological sample; GEOS; Makinson Inlet/Split lake. Mount lawson Formation; sandstone; Na-32; Na-35; Na-36; Na-37; Na-41; Na-42; Na-48; Na-48b; Na-57; Na-58; Na-66; Na-68; Na-69; Na-76; Nares_Strait_Geocruise; near Cape Bair; footwall Pavy Formation sandstone; Orne Island; Sampling on land; Archer; Archer Fiord; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Ellesmere Island; Faraday; Fosse; Greenland; Makinson Inlet; Nares; Orne; Pavy River; Rawlings Bay; Smith Sound; Arctic Archipelago; Baffin; Davis Strait; Nares strait; North Greenland; Polarforschung; Smith sound
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.756511; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.756511

Apatite fission track (FT) ages and length characteristics of samples obtained from Cambrian to Paleocene-aged sandstones collected along the margin of Nares Strait in Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are dominated by a thermal history related to Paleogene relative plate movements between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. A preliminary inverse FT thermal model for a Cambrian (Archer Fiord Formation) sandstone in the hanging wall of the Rawlings Bay thrust at Cape Lawrence is consistent with Paleocene exhumational cooling, likely as a result of erosion of the thrust. This suggests that thrusting at Cape Lawrence occurred prior to the onset of Eocene compression, likely due to transpression during earlier strikeslip along the strait. Models for samples from volcaniclastic sandstones of the Late Paleocene Pavy Formation (from Cape Back and near Pavy River), and a sandstone from the Late Paleocene Mount Lawson Formation (at Split Lake, near Makinson Inlet) are also consistent with minor burial heating following known periods of basaltic volcanism in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait (c. 61-59 Ma), or related tholeiitic volcanism and intrusive activity (c. 55-54 Ma). Thermal models for samples from sea level dykes from around Smith Sound suggest a period of Late Cretaceous – Paleocene heating prior to final cooling during Paleocene time. These model results imply that Paleocene tectonic movements along Nares Strait were significant, and provide limited support for the former existence of the Wegener Fault. Apatite FT data from central Ellesmere Island suggest however, that cooling there occurred during Early Eocene time (c. 50 Ma), which was likely a result of erosion of thrusts during Eurekan compression. This diachronous cooling suggests that Eurekan deformation was partitioned at discrete intervals across Ellesmere Island, and thus it is likely that displacements along the strait were much less than the 150 km that has been previously suggested for the Wegener Fault.