New interpretations based on seismic and modelled well data and their implications for the tectonic evolution of the west Greenland continental margin

TY - ABST

T1 - New interpretations based on seismic and modelled well data and their implications for the tectonic evolution of the west Greenland continental margin

AU - Mcgregor, E.D.

AU - Nielsen, S.B.

AU - Stephenson, R.A.

AU - Clausen, O.R.

AU - Petersen, K.D.

AU - Macdonald, D.I.M.

PY - 2010/12/13

Y1 - 2010/12/13

N2 - Davis Strait is situated between Baffin Island and Greenland and forms part of a sedimentary basin system, linking Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, developed during Cretaceous and Palaeocene rifting that culminated in a brief period of sea-floor spreading in the late Palaeocene and Eocene. Seismic reflection profiles and exploration wells along the Greenland margin of Davis Strait have been analysed in order to elucidate uplift events affecting sedimentary basin development during the Cenozoic with a focus on postulated Neogene (tectonic) uplift affecting the west Greenland continental margin on and offshore. Subsidence and thermal history has been modelled in four offshore wells, constrained by borehole temperatures and vitrinite reflectance. Offshore reflection profiles have been newly interpreted and show the presence of unconformities at the base mid-Eocene (roughly) and base Quaternary. The investigated offshore wells penetrate these two unconformities. It has been argued from published interpretations of fission track data and inferred episodes of cooling that onshore topography was created by Neogene uplift. However, all five wells can be satisfactorily modelled without invoking any Neogene tectonic event. An interpretation in which the inferred onshore cooling is related to erosion of pre-existing topography is more consistent with our new results from the offshore region. These results will have important implications for other continental margins developed throughout the Atlantic-Arctic rift system.

AB - Davis Strait is situated between Baffin Island and Greenland and forms part of a sedimentary basin system, linking Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, developed during Cretaceous and Palaeocene rifting that culminated in a brief period of sea-floor spreading in the late Palaeocene and Eocene. Seismic reflection profiles and exploration wells along the Greenland margin of Davis Strait have been analysed in order to elucidate uplift events affecting sedimentary basin development during the Cenozoic with a focus on postulated Neogene (tectonic) uplift affecting the west Greenland continental margin on and offshore. Subsidence and thermal history has been modelled in four offshore wells, constrained by borehole temperatures and vitrinite reflectance. Offshore reflection profiles have been newly interpreted and show the presence of unconformities at the base mid-Eocene (roughly) and base Quaternary. The investigated offshore wells penetrate these two unconformities. It has been argued from published interpretations of fission track data and inferred episodes of cooling that onshore topography was created by Neogene uplift. However, all five wells can be satisfactorily modelled without invoking any Neogene tectonic event. An interpretation in which the inferred onshore cooling is related to erosion of pre-existing topography is more consistent with our new results from the offshore region. These results will have important implications for other continental margins developed throughout the Atlantic-Arctic rift system.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - AGU Fall Meeting 2010

Y2 - 13 December 2010 through 17 December 2010

ER -