Cenozoic tectonostratigraphy and pre-glacial erosion: A mass-balance study of the northwestern Barents Sea margin

• Published in: Journal of Geodynamics
• Main Authors: Lasabuda, Amando Putra Ersaid, Laberg, Jan Sverre, Knutsen, Stig-Morten, Safronova, Polina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2018
• Subjects: VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450; VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450; Northwestern Barents Sea; Cenozoic; Tectonic; Mass-balance; Erosion; Sedimentation; Barents Sea; Edgeøya; Greenland; Vestbakken; Fram Strait; Greenland Sea; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10037/13352; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2018.03.004

Accepted manuscript version. Published version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2018.03.004 . Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The evolution of the northwestern Barents Sea continental margin, part of a NW-SE trending mega shear zone, has been reconstructed in order to quantify the sedimentation and erosion affecting this area during and after its formation in the Paleogene–Neogene. This development was closely related to the sea-floor opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Our study incorporated 2D seismic data, well data, and information from shallow cores. During the Paleocene–Eocene, the northwesternmost Barents Sea margin was subjected to compression-transpression that led to the development of the West Spitsbergen Fold-Thrust Belt (WSFTB) and largely affected the northern part of the study area. To the south, the Vestbakken volcanic province developed in a pull-apart setting. A transition zone separates these two areas marked by a basin morphology becoming more pronounced to the south suggesting increasing subsidence and extension. Subsequently, during the Oligocene, extension and sea-floor spreading were initiated along the whole margin, resulting in the opening of the Fram Strait between Spitsbergen and NE Greenland in the Miocene. During the Paleocene, the Stappen High and a part of the NE Greenland shelf sourced sediments into the newly developing basins. The southwestern part of the WSFTB, the Stappen High, and part of the NE Greenland margin are interpreted as the main sediment source areas in the Eocene. During the Oligocene and Neogene, a larger part of the northwestern Barents Sea shelf is interpreted to have acted as source area including the Edgeøya platform. As a result of this development, the wider Barents Sea shelf itself is inferred to have been a lowland prior to the northern hemisphere glaciations. We found that the average sedimentation rate for the Paleogene–Neogene at the northwestern Barents Sea margin is about 0.034 m/k.y. This number is in ...