Journal article
The foreland-propagating thrust architecture of the East Greenland Caledonides 72°-75°N
Journal of the Geological Society, Vol.161(6), pp.1009-1026
2004
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764903-141
Abstract
Systematic geological mapping of the East Greenland Caledonides demonstrates that the orogen is built up of WNW-directed thrust sheets displaced across foreland windows. The foreland windows in the southern half of the orogen are characterized by a thin (220-400 m) Neoproterozoic to Lower Palaeozoic succession, structurally overlain by two major Caledonian thrust sheets (Niggli Spids and Hagar Bjerg Thrust Sheets). The metasediments of the upper-level Hagar Bjerg Thrust Sheet host 940-910 Ma granites and migmatites formed during an early Neoproterozoic thermal or orogenic event, as well as Caledonian 435-425 Ma granites and migmatites. The uppermost unit of the thrust pile, the Franz Joseph Allochthon, comprises a very thick (18.5 km) Neoproterozoic to lower Palaeozoic sedimentary succession (Eleonore Bay Supergroup, Tillite Group, Kong Oscar Fjord Group). Total westward displacement of the thrust sheets was about 200-400 km, with shortening estimated at 40-60%. Major extensional faults post-date thrusting. Restoration of the thrust sheets indicates that the sequence of Caledonian orogenic events now preserved in East Greenland was initiated several hundred kilometres ESE of present-day East Greenland, as Baltica and its marginal assemblage of Early Palaeozoic accretions began to impinge on the Laurentian margin.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The foreland-propagating thrust architecture of the East Greenland Caledonides 72°-75°N
- Creators
- A. K Higgins - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandS Elvevold - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandA. G Leslie - British Geological SurveyM. P Smith - University of BirminghamK Thrane - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandG. R Watt - Curtin UniversityJ. C Escher - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandK. S Frederikseni - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandJ. A Gilotti - University of IowaN Henriksen - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandH. F Jepsen - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandK. A Jones - Oxford Brookes UniversityF Kalsbeek - Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandP. D Kinny - Curtin University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the Geological Society, Vol.161(6), pp.1009-1026
- Publisher
- Geological Society
- DOI
- 10.1144/0016-764903-141
- ISSN
- 0016-7649
- eISSN
- 2041-479X
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2004
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984229163402771
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