Polarforschung 68, 93 - 100, 1998 (erschienen 2000)

Drift of Greenland and Correlation of Tertiary Teetonic Eventsin the West Spitsbergen and Eurekan Fold-Thrust Belts.

By Claude Lepvrier'

THEME 6: Eurekan Teetonics in Canada, North Greenland,Spitsbergen; Fold belts adjacent to Exensional OceanBasins

Summary: In the Eurekau ancl Spitsbergen "orogens", the Tertiary tectonicclevelopment is similarly two-phase, inclucling an earlier phase oftranspressionfollowecl by a major phase of compression. The first evcnt, which is IikelyUpper-Paleocene to Early Eocene in age, can be correlatecl with the northeasterlydisplacement of Greenlancl which took place just after chron 25, It corresponelsto a regime of transpression with a significant coupling of thc transcurrent anclconvergent componcnts. The scconcl event, which culminatcd areund mid­Eocene, is compatible with the chron 24 to chron 21 anel chron 13 northcrly tonorthwesterly near-orthogonal convergent motion of Grecnlanel relative toEllesmerc island. It agrces also with the oblique-slip motion which still prevaileclfor the same periocl of time between the Greenlancl- Spitsbergcn paleotransfonn,but with a dominared component of convergence across thc plate-bounclary asa result of strain partitioning.

GEOLOGIC SETTING

The Eurekan "Orogen" (FoRTIER 1963, THORSTEINSSON & TOZER1970, DE PAOR et aL 1989, TRETTIN 1989, 1991, OKULITCH &TRETTIN 1991) in the northeastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago(Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands) and the West-Spitsbergen"Orogen" (HARLAND 1969, HARLAND & HORSFIELD 1974,BIRKENMAJER 1972, 1981, STEEL et al. 1985, DALLMANN et al.1993) in the Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago, are Arctic belts,main1y formed, if not totally, during Tertiary (Paleogene) time.Both are genetically Iinked to the drift of Greenland with respectto North-America and Eurasia (Fig.l). The West Spitsbergenfold-thrust belt has been ascribed to dextral transpression(HARLAND 1965, 1969, LowELL 1972) along the intracontinentalpaleotransform (De Geer-Hornsund Fault Zone) which formedduring Paleocene-Eocene time and linked the coevalNorwegian-Greenland and Gakkel-Nansen (Eurasian) oceanicbasins (TALWANI & ELDHOLM 1977, MYRHE & ELDHOLM 1988,ELDHOUvl et al. 1987, 1990). The Canadian Eurekan fold-thrustbelt and its extension in North-Greenland, is due to the generalanticlockwise rotation (KERR 1967) and northerly motion ofGreenland relative to the Canadian Arctic, as a consequence ofthe Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay opening, since the LateCretaceous until the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (SRIVASTAVA,1978 1985, SRIVASTAVA & TAPSCOTT 1986, ROEST & SRIVASTAVA

I Laboratoire de Tcctonique, ESA 7072 CNRS, Universire Pierre & Marie Curie, Boite129,4 Plaee JllSSIClI, F-7S2S2 Paris cedex OS,France; -cclaude.lcpvrierrsilgs.jussicu.fr»

Manuscript received 03 December 1998. acceptcd 29 June 1999

1989). In a more recent hypothesis (LYBERIS & MANBY 1993),it has been claimed that both the West Spitsbergen and theEurekan belts did not form in a transpressional setting but werethe result of a Greenland-Svalbard convergence in LateCretaceous to Early Paleocene time.

Many attempts have been made, separately for each belt, torelate the tectonic evolution to the plate-tectonic framework. Inthe present paper, taking into account the timing of the tectonicevents in the two areas, the deformational stage history and thesequence of stresses directions, deduced from kinematic analysisof Tertiary structures, are compared each other and correlatedwith the successive stages of the drift of Greenland relative tothe North-America and Eurasia plates.

KINEMATIC STAGES AND PALEOSTRESS HIS TORY INTHE EUREKAN AND SPITSBERGEN FOLD-AND­THRUST-BELTS

In Spitsbergen the fold-thrust belt (HARLAND 1969, HARLAND &HORSFIELD 1974, BIRKENMAJER 1981, DALLMANN et al. 1993),about 300 km long, strikes NNW-SSE, paralleling the westerncontinental margin, except at the northern tip of the deformedzone, in Brogger peninsula, where the structures shift to WNW­ESE. Equivalent but small-scale WNW-ESE structures, with anen echelon arrangement oblique to the general trend of the fold­thrust belt, have been recognized elsewhere, in NordenskiöldLand (BRAATHEN & BERGH 1995). In the Eurekan orogen of theCanadian Arctic, several structural domains are distinguished(OKULITCH & TRETTIN 1991); the structural directions are notstraight but arcuate turning from N-S in Axel Heiberg Island toNE-SW in north-central Ellesmere Island. In both cases ben dingis probably not a consequence ofTertiary shearing (BIRKENMAJER1981, HUGON 1983) but is inherited and due to preexisting fabricin the basement. Deformation is superimposed with the sametrend onto structures related to the Caledonian orogeny includingthe late Devonian Ellesmerian and Svalbardian events andcauses the contractional reactivation and inversion ofextensional structures related to the Late Paleozoic riftingepisode (MAHER & WELBON 1992). The two fold-thrust belts arecharacterized by the involvement in deformation, at variousdegree, of the Carboniferous to Paleogene strata of the Sverdrupbasin (including the Eureka Sound Group) and the equivalentsedimentary pile of Spitsbergen (including the Tertiarydeposits).

93

----=-+-----+---_---1--9

SCANDINAV,\

""-_~~~.~.._._L,~_.-ll.L~.'LLL ~.. _ __L.. .._.__LI.Yln~__'______...J

Fig. 1: Present-day loeation ofthe Eurekan and Spitsbergen orogenie systcm in the Arctic. NP = North Pole; M.A.R = Mid Aretie Riclge; SPZ Spitsbergen FractureZone; MFZ =Molloy Fracturc Zone; HFZ =Hornsund Fault Zone; GFZ =Greenlancl Fault Zone; lMFZ =Jan Mayen Fault Zone; Kn R =Knipovieh Riclge; M.R.= Mohns Ridge; Ko. R. = Kolbeinsy R.

Spitsbergen fold-and-thrust belt

The prevailing structural features are those of an cast-vergingcompressional near-orthogonal fold-and-thrust belt and cannotbe considered as type example of a strike-slip belt, as previouslyassumed (LOWELL 1972). From the western hinterland to theforeland the tectonic style varies from thick-skinned (basement­involved) to thin-skinned (detachment-dominated) thrusttectonics, as a result of decollement horizons (Upper Paleozoicevaporites, Mesozoic shales) within the post-Devonian sequence(N0TTYEDT et al. 1988). A model of decoupling of the dextraltranspressional motion between Greenland and Svalbard hasbeen invoked in which the transcurrent component is supposedto be confined to the internal part of the fold belt, 01' even to anoff-shore zone, (MAHER & CRADDOCK 1988, N0TTYEDT et al.1988). In the Forlandsundet area, some structures parallel to thepaleotransform show evidence of transcurrent movements. Theen echelon arrangement of surface high magnetic-anornalies(KRASIL'SCIKOY et al. 1995), along the NW-trending easternmarginal fault of the Forlandsundet, is inferred to be the resultof strike-slip faulting movement within an overall dextral regimeof transpression (OHTA et al. 1995). Orogen-parallel motion havealso been documented in the crystalline basernent, at the SEmargin of the Forlandsundet, along a major fault zone involv­ing Carboniferous strata (LEPYRIER 1990, 1992, MAHER et al.1997). Some structures in southern Spitsbergen also implydextral strike-slip movements (DALLMANN 1992).

94

Kinematic analysis of fault populations conducted at differentIocations, in the post-Devonian strata and also in the Tertiarydeposits, shows that the deformational history is polyphase.

A sequence of dextral transpression followed by compressionand final transtension has been defined in the Brogger andForlandsundet areas (LEPYRIER & GEYSSANT 1985, LEPYRIER1990, 1992). The major and widespread phase of purecontractional nature corresponds to an east-northeast-west­southwest (70-80 ON) direction of o l, orthogonal to the traceof the paleotransform. This event largely overprints the effectsof a first episode characterized by a N-S to 10-20 direction ofo l and marked by dextral strike-slip movements along faultsparallel to the paleotransform. In western Spitsbergen; the earlydevelopment as pull-apart basins of the Forlandsundet graben(RYE-LARSEN 1982) and other comparable structures on thecontinental margin (EIKEN & AUSTEGARD 1987), as weil as thenortherly thrusting movements recognized in the Brcggerpeninsula, are coevally attributed to this first episode, as far asthese structures represent extensional and contractional relayzones of a dextral strike-slip system (LEPYRIER 1988). Along theCarboniferous slice of SE Forlandsundet the strike-slipmovements, compatible with an overall dextral setting, are notattribu ted to this early stage bu t seem to postdate thecompressional episode (MAHER et al. 1997).

A similar polyphase kinematic history is found in the Nor-

denskiöld Land (BRAATHEN & BERGI-I 1995); prior to the finalextension, deformation is the result of two kinematic stages:successively NNE-SSW dextral transpression and WSW-ENEshortening.

From the analysis of striated fault-planes in the Tertiary stra­tigraphic units of the Central Basin, a comparable succession ofstress tensors has been established (KLEINSPEHN et al. 1989,TEYSSIER et al. 1995) with two regionally significant tensors,successively oriented North-South and Northeast-Southwest.Short-lived and local faulting events including sinistral strike­slip movements occured in between.

Except for local variations of the paleostress field close to theplate boundary and the existence of local and short-lived events,the kinematic evolution established from different locations istherefore consistent at a regional scale and consistent with themajor structures. Apart from the final extension, this historyincludes two main stages: a N-NNE-S-SSW transpression whichallows dextral strike-slip movements on faults parallel to thepaleotransform and an ENE-WSW compressionsubperpendicular to the paleotransform. However, using asimilar analytical method of small-scaled structures, MANBY &LYBERIS (1995) consider the change in shortening direction(Bregger peninsula, Nordenskiöld Land) as progressive and notrepresentative of distinct kinematic phases; they define anopposite succession with an initial ENE-WSW compression anda later strike-slip regime, which appears to be invalid from fieldevidences.

Eurekan fold-and-thrust belt (Ellesmere and Axel Heibergislands)

The Eurekan deformation concerns a wide zone characterizedby eastwards to southeastwards thrusts (Stolz Thrust, VesleFjord Thrust, Lake Hazen thrust, Parrish Glacier thrust etc.) andoverturned folds. Decollement horizons give rise to flat-rampgeometries (OKULITCH 1982, OSAOETZ 1982). Tertiary sedimentsof the Eureka Sound group are fragmented in several foredeepsubbasins within the belt and along Nares Strait (MAYR & OEVRIES 1982). Structural and kinematic analysis of faults havebeen performed in Central Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands(OE PAaRet al. 1989, LEPVRIER et al. 1996). The major phase ofdeformation is characterized by a direction of 0"1 turning fromWNW-ESE in eastern Axel Heiberg Island along the Stolz thrustto NNW-SSE in north-central Ellesmere Island (BIue Moun­tains, Lake Hazen thrusts), allowing there a moderatecomponent of dextral motion (HIGGINS & SOPER 1983). Olderstructures expressed by tensional gashes and by rare reversefaults have been evidenced in the BIue Mountains area. Thereconstructed direction of 0"1 is NE-SW oriented, allowing, asit has been suggested (MIALL 1985), left-Iateral displacementsbefore thrusting along the faults which run through EllesmereIsland slighty oblique to the Nares Strait. Along the Nares Straititself, strike-slip faulting has been reported in Judge DalyPromontory (MAYR & OE VRIES 1982).

TIMING OF TECTONIC EVENTS

Age of the major deformational episode

In Spitsbergen as weIl in the Canadian Arctic, the major de­formational episode (stage 2 structures) of contractional natureis Tertiary in age, as proved in particular by the clear involve­ment of Tertiary strata in the deformation. The recent hypothesisfor a late Cretaceous-early Paleocene main tectonic development(LYBERIS & MANBY 1993, 1994) has been extensively discussedand rejected (LEPVRIER 1994, MAHER et al. 1995).

In the Canadian Arctic, deformation terminated by the end ofEocene with the deposition of the Eureka Sound Group (MIALL1986, RICKETTS 1988) and only the Neogene Beaufort Forma­tion is post-deformational. Thrust movements along Stolz andLake Hazen Faults are dated by the synorogenic mid-Eoceneconglomerates of the Buchanan Lake Formation, at the top ofthe Eureka Sound Group (RICKETTS & McINTYRE 1986, MIALL1988, RICKETTS 1988); upper(?) Paleocene sediments aresimilarly involved in the Parrish Glacier and other thrustsalong Nares strait (MAYR & OE VRIES 1982). In North­Greenland the south-dipping Kap Cannon thrust, at thenorthern coast of Peary Land also moved during the Eocene(SOPER et al. 1982).

In Spitsbergen, in spite of stratigraphic uncertainties that stillexist, a late Paleocene to Eocene age for the main episode ofdeformation is generally favored, on the basis of variousobservations (MAHER et al. 1995).

In the Central Basin, the onset of transpression is documentedby the reversal of the source supply in the latest Paleocene as aresponse to upthrusting of the western zone; this episode marksits evolution as a foreland piggy-back basin with an eastwardmigration of the depocenter (KELLOGG 1975, STEEL et al. 1981,N0TTVEOT et al. 1988, HELLANO-HANSEN 1990). Within theoverall regime of dextral transpression, MÜLLER & SPIELHAGEN(1990) separate a dominantly compressive phase restricted to thelate Paleocene - early Eocene and a strike-slip-dominated dextraltranspression in early to middle Eocene. The stress tensorrecorded in the Central basin and related to the phase of ortho­gonal compression, is similarly attributed to the late Paleocene­Eocene period of time (KLEINSPEHN et al. 1989, TEYSSIER et al.1995).

In the Forlandsundet basin, the age of the youngest strata is earlyOligocene (FEYLING-HANSEN & ULLEBERG 1984) or mostprobably restricted to the Eocene (MANUM & THRONOSEN 1986).The entire sequence suffered ENE-directed compression by thelate Eocene-early Oligocene, before the tectonic regime changedinto extension (LEPVRIER & GEYSSANT 1985, LEPVRIER 1990,GABRIELSEN et al. 1992, KLEINSPEHN & TEYSSIER 1992). LYBERIS& MANBY (1993) fail to recognize the existence of the ENE­WSW to EW compression in the Tertiary rocks of Forlandsundetbasin which would be only affected by the late dextraltranstension and NW-SE extension.

95

\00\

••North Pole

AXEL HEIBERG I. 50'

SPITSBERGEN'&

30

40"

'"

BARENTS SHELF

BJ0RN0YA

&0"

PRE2)~CJ/\

~~

""

10

FIXED

ELLESMERE I.

BAFFIN BAY

Fig. 2: Restered paleopositions, at chron 21 and chron 13. of Greenland and Spitsbergen-Barcnts sea blocks with respect to Canadian Arctic Islands. Thc plate-tectonic model of SRrvAsTAvA & TAPSCOTT (1986)is used in this reconstruction. Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg are maintained fixed in their prcsent day position (Polar projection with present-day grid). The different landmasses are represented with their moderncoastlines. The main structures (faults and thrusts) active during thc major phase of deformation (mid to late Eocene) are reported on the chron 21 situation, togcther with the corresponding directions of compression(arrows) and thc main arcas of Paleogcne deposits.Abbreviations are as fol1ows: ST =Stolz Thrust, VFT =Vesle Fjord Thrust. BMT =Blue Mountains =Thrust, PGT =Parrish Glacier Thrust, LHT =Lake Hazen Thrust, NLFZ = Nyeboc Land Fault Zone, HFFZ= Harder Fjord Fault Zone, KCT = Kap Canon Thrust, TLFZ =Trolle Land Fault Zone, HFZ = Hornsund Fault Zone, BFZ = Billefjorden Fault Zone, LFZ = Lomfjorden Fault Zone; PMA = Princess MargaretArch, GU = Grantland Uplift; CB = Central Basin, FB = Forlandsundet Basin, ES = Eureka Sound. E = Eureka, A =Alert, NA = Ny Alesund. L = Longyearbyen.

Age 0/ earlier movements

The onset of deformation for the earlier structures (stage 1) andfor strike-slip movements is more difficult to constrain. InEllesmere Island, they are tentatively attributed to the early tomiddle Eocene (MIALL 1985). Recent apatite fission track data(ARNE et al. 1998), from the Vesle Fjord Thrust, indicate aninitiation of fault movement during the Paleocene.

In Spitsbergen, the WNW-ESE stage 1 structures related to theN-NNE-S-SSW direction of shortening may have been formedonly in the Late Paleocene-earliest Eocene just prior to the maincompressional event, a short period separating the two events(BRAATHEN et al. 1995). The early development of theForlandsundet basin as a transtensional relay zone within adextral transpressional setting is probably synchronous withthese stage 1 structures (STEEL et al. 1985, LEPVRIER 1988,GABRIELSEN et al. 1992). However, an earlier formation of thesestage 1 structures cannot be excluded. An early Paleocene andpossibly a Late Cretaceous age is suggested (BRAATHEN & BERGH1995). According to the paleostress record in the Central Basin,the oldest north-south stress tensor was established as soon asthe Late Cretaceous-earliest Paleocene, followed until the LatePaleocene by short-lived faulting events (KLEINSPEHN et aI. 1989,TEYSSIER et al. 1995). Fission track analyses tend to indicate aninitial 70-50 Ma cooling period due to uplift (BLYTE &KLEINSPEHN 1997) but only minor structures can be attributed tothe Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene time interval (MAHER etaI. 1997). However, in the Kronprins Christian Land of NEGreenland, dextral transpression has been argued as Late Cre­taceous (HÄKANSSON & PEOERSEN 1982).

CORRELATIONS OF TECTONIC EVENTS WITH THEDRIFT OF GREENLAND

From magnetic anomalies recorded in the Labrador Sea, BaffinBay (SRIVASTAVA 1978, SRIVASTAVA & TAPSC01T 1986, ROEST &SRIVASTAVA 1989) and Norwegian-Greenland Sea (TALWANI &ELDHOLM 1977, MYRHE & ELDHOLM 1988, ELDHOLM et aI. 1990,V ÄGNES et al. 1988, FALEIDE et aI. 1993, SKILBREI & SRIVASTAVA1993), it has been demonstrated that Greenland was anindependant plate with respect to the North America and Eurasiaplates between chrons 25-24 and 13. Prior to the existence ofthis three-plates system, Greenland was linked to Eurasia; butsince chron 33 (80 Ma) it moved away from America in a east­northeast direction. A major anticlockwise change to the north­northeast occured during the chrons 25-24 interval (59-56 Ma),which marked the beginning of sea-floor spreading in the coevalNorwegian-Greenland and Eurasian Oceanic Basins. ThenGreenland moved northeastwards and finally from chron 21 (49Ma) until chron 13 (36 Ma) moved north-northwestwards. Af­ter chron 13 it became attached to America but continued toseparate from Eurasia in a WNW direction. According to thereinterpretation of previous data, sea-floor spreading in theLabrador Sea is thought to have started only from chron 27 inthe Paleocene and not in the Late Cretaceous (CHALMERS &LAURSEN 1995).

This plate tectonic evolution, from the late Cretaceous or theearly Paleocene to the Oligocene, implies aperiod of orthogo­nal convergence between Greenland and North America alongNares Strait (Wegener fault), preceeded by a first and signifi­cant episode of left-lateral motion. Although the amount ofsinistral displacement has been considerably reduced in a morerecent model (ROEST & SRIVASTAVA 1989), this question has beena matter of controversy (KERR 1980, DAWES & KERR 1982,HIGGINS & SOPER 1989). The model of SRIVASTAVA & TAPSCOTT(1986) used in our reconstruction Fig.2 and the amount ofsinistral displacement along Nares Strait are not discussed in thispaper. Sinistral strike-slip faulting are known in Judge DalyBasin at the northeastern part of the Strait (MAYR & OE VRIES1982) but it has been suggested that the movement wasdistributed throughout the foldbelt itself, forming a diffuse plateboundary (MIALL 1983, HUGON 1983).

The direction of 01 for the major compressional phase (stage 2structures) fits well with the north to northwestwards movementof convergence between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Thepreceeding oblique-slip regime of deformation (sinistraltranspression) can be related to the northeastwards displacementof Greenland. A mechanism of coupling could have existedduring this phase but some of the ENE to NE faults of northernEllesmere could have been successively the site of strike-slipfaulting and thrusting as suggested by MIALL (1985). The arcuatedistribution of 01 during the second event is better explainedby the influence of basement acting as an indenter (LEPVRIER etaI. 1996) than by the effect of pivotal tectonism (PIERCE 1982,OE PAOR et aI. 1989). On the other hand, the WNW to NWdirection of compression observed on Axel Heiberg Island couldbe slightly younger than the thrusts on Ellesmere Island andcould coincide with the latest WNW drift of Greenland.

Along the intracontinental paleotransform between Greenlandand Svalbard, the plate tectonic model implies dextral motion,with successively strike-slip, compression-dominated trans­pression (chrons 25-24), strike-slip-dominated transpression(chrons 24-21) and then strike-slip followed by transtension afterchron 13 (MÜLLER & SPIELHAGEN 1995). A short-lived period ofsinistral motion could have existed (SKILBREI & SRIVASTAVA1994).

The sedimentary development of the Tertiary Central Basin isconsistent with the motion between the Greenland and Eurasiaplates and particularly with the onset of transpression in latePaleocene (MÜLLER & SPIELHAGEN 1990). The kinematic historyand paleostress evolution established from fault-slip analysis(LEPVRIER & GEYSSANT 1985, KLEINSPEHN et aI. 1989, BRAATHEN& BERGH 1995, GABRIELSEN et aI. 1992, LEPVRIER 1992, TEYSSIERet aI. 1995) are also in accordance with dextral transpression,However, there is an apparent discrepancy between thecompressional nature of the main tectonic episode, with a 70­80 ON direction of shortening, subperpendicular to the trace ofthe paleotransform and the plate setting. This situation, wh ichis not surprising for a regime of transpression (HARLANO 1997),can be explained by decoupling of the two components oftranscurrence and convergence (MAHER & CRAOOOCK 1988). A

97

coupled to decoupled succession has been proposed to accountfor the stage 1 and stage 2 structures (LEPVRIER 1992, B RAATHENet al. 1995, TEYSSIER et al. 1995). Coupling was prevailing duringthe formation of the stage 1 structures when Greenland andSpitsbergen starts to slide past each other. Conversevely, stage2 structures are related to decoupling. The orogen parallelmotion observed in the hinterland of the fold-thrust-belt iscoeva1 with the orogen-perpendicular transport to the ENE inthe foreland (MAHER et al. 1997). The chron 25 to chron 24interval, marked by the drastic counterclockwise rotation ofGreenland could correspond to the change from coupling todecoupling. Short-lived intervals of decoupling could existduring this period. A correlation diagram of Tertiary regionalteetonic events and plate-tectonic stages is given in Table 1.

synchronous ENE-vergent stuctures which developed inSpitsbergen as a result of decoupled transpression. The stage 1structures are consistent with the northeastward displacement ofGreenland which took place after chron 25; they correspondrespectively in the two areas to oblique sinistral and dextralregime of transpression, with coupling of the components oftranscurrence and convergence. The earlier period of sea-floorspreading in the Labrador Sea, from the late Cretaceous or theearly Paleocene to the late Paleocene, is on1y responsible ofuplift, without significant contractional deformation.

The sequence of tectonic events in Spitsbergen and in CanadianArctic shows a good accordance and fits rather weIl with theplate teetonic setting. However, the correlation established in

plate tectonic frarnework age ofteetonie events

ehronostratigraphie age chronometrie magnetic sea-floor spreading motion of Ellesmere IsIandage (Ma) anornalies Labrador sea Norw-Greenl. Greenland Spitsbergen AxeI lIeiberg Island

~ ......

OLIGOCENE WNW transtension-extension

36 13~ ...... ~ ......

Priabonianupper

Bartonianrranspression WNW-ESE

~NW (with decoupling): (Axel Heibcrg Island)

mid Lutetian ENE-WSWorthogonal NNW-SSEW compression (foreland) (Ellesmere Island)@ 21 N dextral strike-slip orthogonal compression

49 (hinterland)

lower Ypresian NE

56 24sinistral N-S lo NNE-SSW ENE-WSW to NE-SW

59 25 rotation dextral transpression sinistral transpression

ffiupper Thanetian (with coupIing) (coupling ?)

8 60.5 26W

~ lower Danian ENE transtension0.. with dexlral strike-slip

HALMERS65 f--29- &LARSEN

Maestrichtian 1995)LATE ROESTCRETAC. & SRIVASTAVA

uplift upliftCampanian 80 33

(1989)

Tab. I: Correlation diagram ofregional tectonic events (Spitsbergen and Ellesmere-Axel Heiberg islands) and plate-tectonic stages. The time scale isfrom KENT

GRADSTEtN (1986).

CONCLUSIONS

A two-stage tectonic development characterizes the Eurekanfold-thrust belt ofthe Canadian Arctic and the Spitsbergen fold­thrust belt, with a climax of deformation around mid-Eocene.The sequence of tectonic events is fully compatible with themotion of Greenland with respect to Eurasian and North Ame­rican plates (Tab. 1). The northerly to northwesterly motionwhich took place from chron 24 to chron 13, through chron 21,(Fig. 2) coincides with the stage 2 structures observed onEllesmere and Axel Heiberg islands. It accounts also for the

98

this paper needs to be confirmed, because of the remaininguncertainties on the stratigraphie age of the Tertiary Formationsinvolved in the deformation. Furthermore, this correlation needsto be corroborated by additional data from North and NortheastGreenland.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study has been supported by the French Polar Institute(IFRTP) and by the GDR n049 "Recherches Arctiques" of the

CNRS. The author thanks Frank Tessensohn and an anonymousreviewer for their constructive comments in order to improvethe manuscript.

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