| Summary: | The Cenozoic development of the western Barents Sea continental margin is strongly related to the rifting and seafloor spreading between Norway and Greenland. The margin is characterized by a series of highs and basins that formed as part of the development of a mega-transform zone. To the north, the Spitsbergen Fold and Thrust Belt and the Eocene clinoform development in the Central Basin that were initiated in the Paleocene Early Eocene are the evident of compression / transpression, and sediment erosion, transport and deposition respectively. At that time, the Vestbakken Volcanic Province and the Sørvestsnaget Basin to the south experienced a period of subsidence. A marginal high and an intra- basinal high in the Sørvestsnaget Basin, as well as the Senja Ridge and the Veslemøy High are identified as positive bathymetric features that acted as local source areas. Seismic data also shows a set of Eocene clinoform in the eastern part of the Sørvestsnaget Basin that probably was sourced from the Stappen High area. Available well data show an overall deep-water paleoenvironment during the Paleocene-Eocene in the south western Barents Sea, probably shallowing north of Bjørnøya. During the Oligocene, a period of plate reorganization occurred that resulted in the onset of extension also in the north western Barents Sea including sea floor spreading west of Svalbard. Here, the Forlandsundet and Bellsund grabens as well as most of the extensional faults show a significant growth. In the southwestern Barents Sea, traces of compression structures are seen on seismic data suggesting a period of tectonic inversion. An overall shallow marine paleoenvironment characterized the south western Barents Sea shelf during the Oligocene being deeper towards the west. Seismic data shows contourite development in the continentalslope areacontemporaneouswiththeopeningoftheFramStrait that connected the oceanic circulation of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. Seismic mapping of the Paleogene-Neogene strata shows an eastward and ...
|
|---|