Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T20:56:32.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mesozoic extension versus Tertiary compression along the Billefjorden Fault Zone south of Isfjorden, central Spitsbergen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Pål Haremo ,
Arild Andresen  and
Henning Dypvik
Pål Haremo
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Arild Andresen
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Henning Dypvik
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Geology, P.O. Box 1047, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Billefjorden Fault Zone displays a complex tectonic history going back into Precambrian times. Observed thickness variations within Mesozoic sequences across the fault zone have previously been related to Mesozoic extensional movements along the fault zone. Recent structural, stratigraphical and sedimentological investigations suggest that the thicknessvariation observed across the fault zone is due to Tertiary compressional tectonics, and that Mesozoic extensional movements are minor or nonexistent.Tertiary deformation is characterized by a combined thin-skinned/thick-skinned structural style. Thin-skinned thrusting is due to the development of décollement zones in the Jurassic/Cretaceous Janusfjellet Subgroup and in the Triassic Sassendalen Group. Thick-skinned faulting is related to reverse faulting along a steep, east-dipping fault rooted in the pre-Mesozoic basement. Interacting thin-skinned thrusting and thick-skinned faulting has resulted in out-of-sequence thrusting, and is responsible for the thinning of Mesozoic sequences across the fault zone.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 130 , Issue 6 , November 1993 , pp. 783 - 795
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andresen, A., Dypvik, H., Nagy, J., Elverhøi, A., Elkeland, T. A., Haremo, P., Nesteby, H. & Strand, K. 1986. Mesozoisk kontra tertiaer tektonisk aktivitet langs Billefjord-lineamentet syd for Isfjorden, Spitsbergen. Abstract 10. Norske Geologiske Vintermøte Trondheim 1987. Geolognytt 21, 14.Google Scholar
Andresen, A., Haremo, P., Swensson, E. & Bergh, S. G. 1992. Structural geology around the southern termination of the Lomfjorden Fault Complex, Agardhdalen, east Spitsbergen. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 72, 83–91.Google Scholar
Bäckström, S. A. & Nagy, J. 1985. Depositional history and fauna of a Jurassic phosphorite conglomerate (the Brentskardhaugen bed) in Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter 183, 1–61.Google Scholar
Birkenmajer, K. 1975. Caledonides of Svalbard and plate tectonics. Geological Society of Denmark Bulletin 24, 1–19.Google Scholar
Buchan, S. H., Challinor, A., Harland, W. B. & Parker, J. R. 1965. The Triassic stratigraphy of Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter 135, 1–72.Google Scholar
Dallmann, W. K. 1988. Thrust tectonics south of Van Keulenfjorden. Extended abstract. Symposium on Tertiary Tectonics of Svalbard. Oslo, 26& 27 April 1988. Norsk Polarinstitutt Rapportserie 46, 43–6.Google Scholar
De Geer, G. 1866. On the physiographical evolution of Spitsbergen. Stockholm, Vetskapliga Akademiske Handlingar 6 (7), 161–91.Google Scholar
Dypvik, H., Andresen, A., Haremo, P., Nagy, J., Elverhøi, A., Elkeland, T. A., Johansen, H. & Strand, K. 1990. Sedimentation and tectonics in the Jurassic/Cretaceous sequences of Central Spitsbergen. In Arctic Research, Advances and Prospects. Proceedings of the Conference of Arctic and Nordic Countries on Coordination of Research in the Arctic, Leningrad December 1988, part 1 (eds Kotlyakov, V. M. and Sokolov, V. E.), pp. 348–54. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Dypvik, H., Nagy, J., Eikeland, T. A., Backer-Owe, K., Andresen, A., Haremo, P., Bjæerke, T., Johansen, H. & Elverhøi, A. 1991 a. The Janusfjellet Subgroup (Bathonian to Hauterivian) on central Spitsbergen: a revised lithostratigraphy. Polar Research 9, 21–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dypvik, H., Nagy, J., Eikeland, T. A., Backer-Owe, K. & Johansen, H. 1991 b. Depositional conditions of the Bathonian to Hauterivian Janusfjellet Subgroup, Spitsbergen, Norway. Sedimentary Geology 72, 55–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M. B. 1976. Growth faults in the upper Triassic deltaic sediments, Svalbard. American Association of Petroleum Geologists 60, 341–55.Google Scholar
Eldholm, O., Faleide, J. L. & Myhre, A. M. 1987. Continental-ocean transition at the western Barents Sea/Svalbard continental margin. Geology 15, 1118–22.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gayer, R. A., Gee, D. G., Harland, W. B., Miller, J. A., Spall, H. R., Wallis, R. H. & Winsnes, T. S. 1966. Radiometric age determinations on rocks from Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter 137,1–39.Google Scholar
Gjelberg, J. G. & Steel, R. J. 1981. An outline of lower-middle Carboniferous sedimentation on Svalbard: Effects of tectonic, climatic and sea level changes in rift basin sequences. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir no. 7, 543–61.Google Scholar
Friend, P. F. & Moody-Stuart, M. 1972. Sedimentation of the Wood Bay Formation (Devonian) of Spitsbergen: Regional analysis of a late orogenic basin. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter no. 157, 77 pp.Google Scholar
Haremo, P. & Andresen, A. 1988. Tertiary movements along the Billefjorden Fault Zone and its relation to the Vest-Spitsbergen Orogenic Belt. Extended abstract. Symposium on Tertiary Tectonics of Svalbard, Oslo, 26 & 27 April 1988. Norsk Polarinstitutt Rapportserie 46, 71–4.Google Scholar
Haremo, P., Andresen, A., Dypvik, H., Nagy, J., Elverhøi, A., Eikeland, T. A. & Johansen, H. 1990. Structural development along the Billefjorden Fault Zone in the area between Kjellströmdalen and Adventdalen/Sassendalen, Central Spitsbergen. Polar Research 8, 195–216.Google Scholar
Haremo, P. & Andresen, A. 1992. Tertiary décollement thrusting and inversion structures along Billefjorden and Lomfjorden Fault Zones East Central Spitsbergen. In Structural and Tectonic Modelling and itsApplication to Petroleum Geology (eds Larsen, R. M., Brekke, H., Larsen, B. T. and Talleraas, E.), pp. 481–94. Norwegian Society Special Publication no. 1. Amsterdam, London, New York, Tokyo: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haremo, P., Swensson, E. & Andresen, A. 1992. Evidence of Mesozoic extension along the Lomfjorden Fault Zone, Agardhbukta. Abstract. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 72, 136–7.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1965. Discussion on the tectonic evolution of the Arctic-North Atlantic Region. Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society of London, Series A, 258, 59–75.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. & Horsfield, W. T. 1974. The West Spitsbergen Orogen. Special Publication, Geological Society of London 4, 747–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B., Mann, A. & Townsend, C. 1988. Deformation of anhydrite gypsum rocks in central Spitsbergen. Geological Magazine 125, 103–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B., Cutbill, J. L., Friend, P. F., Gobett, D. S., Holliday, D. W., Maton, P. I., Parker, J. R. & Wallis, R. H. 1974. The Billefjorden Fault Zone, Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter no. 161, 72 pp.Google Scholar
Hjelle, A. & Lauritzen, Ø. 1982. Geological map of Svalbard, 1:500.000, Sheet 3G, Spitsbergen, Northern part. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter no. 154C, 15 pp.Google Scholar
Holtedahl, O. 1914. On the Old Red Sandstone Series of North WesternSpitsbergen. International Geological Congress Xllth Session, Canada 1913, 707–12.Google Scholar
Johannessen, E. P. & Steel, R. J. 1992. Mid-Cretaceous extensionand rift-infill sequences in the Billefjorden Trough, Svalbard. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 72,35–48.Google Scholar
Lamar, D. L., Reed, W. E. & Douglass, D. N. 1986. Billefjorden Fault Zone, Spitsbergen: Is it part of a major Late Devonian transform? Geological Society of America Bulletin 97, 1083–8.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowell, D. L. 1972. Spitsbergen Tertiary Orogenic Belt and the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83, 3091–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyberis, N., Manby, G. M. & Thidig, F. 1992. The West Spitsbergen Fold Belt: the result of Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene Greenland-Svalbard convergence? Abstract. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 72, 137.Google Scholar
Maher, H. D. Jr 1988. Minimum estimate of Tertiary shortening suggested by surface structures exposed on Midterhuken, Bellsund, Spitsbergen. Extended abstract. Symposium on Tertiary Tectonics of Svalbard, Oslo, 26 & 27 April 1988. Norsk Polarinstitutt Rapportserie 46, 35–8.Google Scholar
Major, H. & Nagy, J. 1972. Geology of the Adventdalen map area. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter no. 138, 58 pp.Google Scholar
Manum, S. B. & Throndsen, T. 1978. Rank of coal and dispersed organic matter and its geological bearing in the Spitsbergen Tertiary. Norsk Polarinstitutt Årbok 1977, 159–77.Google Scholar
Manum, S. B. & Throndsen, T. 1986. Age of Tertiary formations onSpitsbergen. Polar Research 4, 103–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McWhae, J. R. H. 1953. The major fault zone of central Spitsbergen. Journal of the Geological Society 108, 209–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mørk, A., Knarud, R. & Worsley, D. 1982. Depositional anddiagenetic environments of the Triassic and lower Jurassic succession of Svalbard. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geology Memoir 8, 371–98.Google Scholar
Myhre, A. M. & Eldholm, O. 1988. The Western Svalbard margin (74°-80° N). Marine and Petroleum Geology 5, 134–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nøttvedt, A., Livbjerg, F. & Midbøe, P. S. 1988. Tertiary deformation of Svalbard-various models and recent advances. Extended abstract. Symposium on Tertiary Tectonics of Svalbard, Oslo, 26 & 27 April 1988. Norsk Polarinstitutt Rapportserie 46, 79–84.Google Scholar
Orvin, A. K. 1940. Outline of the Geological History of Spitsbergen. Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet no. 78, 57 pp.Google Scholar
Otha, Y. 1992. Recent understanding of the Svalbard basement in the light of new radiometric age determinations. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 72, 1–5.Google Scholar
Parker, J. R. 1966. Folding, faulting and dolerite intrusions in theMesozoic rocks of the fault zone of central Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Årbok 1964, 47–55.Google Scholar
Parker, J. R. 1967. The Jurassic and Cretaceous sequence in Spitsbergen. Geological Magazine 104, 487–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravn, J. P. J. 1922. On the mollusca of the Tertiary of Spitsbergen. Resultater Norsk Spitsbergenekspedisjon 1 (2), 1–28.Google Scholar
Ringseth, N. & Andresen, A. 1988. The Gipshuken Fault System - evidence for Tertiary thrusting along the Billefjorden Fault Zone. Extended abstract. Symposium on Tertiary Tectonics of Svalbard, Oslo, 26 & 27 April 1988. Norsk Polarinstitutt Rapportserie 46, 67–70.Google Scholar
Steel, R. J. & Worsley, D. 1984. Svalbard's post-Caledonian strata–an atlas of sedimentational patterns and palaeo-geographic evolution. In Petroleum Geology of the North European Margin. Proceedings of the North European Margin Symposium–Norwegian Petroleum Society (ed. Spencer, A.), pp. 109–35. London: Graham & Trotman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steel, R. J., Gjelberg, J., Helland-Hansen, W., Kleinspehn, K., Nøttvedt, A. & Rye-Larsen, M. 1985. The Tertiary strike-slip basins and orogenic belt of Spitsbergen. The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication 37, 339–59.Google Scholar
Ziegler, P. A. 1988. Evolution of the Arctic-North Atlantic and the Western Tethys. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir no. 43, 198 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar