Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:52:25.443Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Arctic Caledonides and earlier Oceans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

W. B. Harland  and
R. A. Gayer
W. B. Harland
Affiliation:
Department of GeologySedgwick MuseumDowning StreetCambridge, CB2 3EQ
R. A. Gayer
Affiliation:
Department of GeologyUniversity College of South Wales and MonmouthshireCathay's Park, Cardiff
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Consideration of the arctic configuration of the Caledonides leads to a distinction between eastern and western geosynclinal belts. The western belt, comprising the East Greenland, East Svalbard and southern Barents Sea Caledonides is postulated to continue northwards into the Lomonosov Ridge, whilst the western Spitsbergen Caledonides are thought to have originated as part of the North Greenland geosyncline which is also thought to continue northwards to form the western part of the Lomonosov Ridge. The eastern Caledonian geosynclinal belt comprising the Scandinavian Caledonides appears to swing eastwards to link with the Timan Chain and possibly the Urals.

The already postulated (‘Proto-Atlantic’) ocean concept is reviewed in the light of the Arctic Caledonides and named Iapetus. Faunal provincialism suggests that the ocean was in existence up to early Ordovician but had substantially closed by mid Ordovician times. Possible relics of the suture marking the closure of this ocean suggest that it lay to the west of the Arctic Scandinavian Caledonides trending NE to latitude 70° N and thence veered eastwards separating the southern Barents Sea Caledonides from those of Arctic Scandinavia, possibly connecting with the northern Uralian ocean. A previous branch of the ocean may have separated East Svalbard and East Greenland as an ocean-like trough. A further (pre-Arctic) ocean may have existed to the north of the North Greenland–Lomonosov Ridge geosynclines. This is named Pelagus.

The closure of these oceanic areas and the deformation of the bordering geosynclines delineates three principal continental plates, namely, Baltic, Greenland and Barents Plates. Their relative dominantly E–W motion up to Silurian times produced compression between the Greenland and both the Baltic and Barents plates but dextral transpression and transcurrence between the latter plates. In Late Silurian to Devonian times an increasing northward component controlled late Caledonian transpression and sinistral transcurrence between the Greenland plate and the combined Baltic and Barents plates.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 109 , Issue 4 , July 1972 , pp. 289 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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

Berthelsen, A. & Noe-Nygaard, A. 1965. The Precambrian of Greenland. In Rankama, K. (Ed.): The Precambrian 2, 113–262. London, Interscience Publishers.Google Scholar
Birkenmajer, K. 1959. Report on the geological investigations of the Hornsund area, Vestspitsbergen in 1958. Acad. Polonaise Sci. Bull. Sér. Chim., Géol. et Géogr. pp. 129–36, 191–6.Google Scholar
Brooks, M. 1970. A gravity survey of coastal areas of West Finnmark, northern Norway. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 125, 171–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, S. W. 1958. The tectonic approach to continental drift. In Carey, S. W. (Ed.): Continental Drift, a symposium, pp. 177–355. Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.Google Scholar
Church, W. R. & Stevens, R. K. 1971. Early Palaeozoic Ophiolite Complexes of the Newfoundland Appalachians as Mantle-Oceanic Crust Sequences. J. geophys. Res. 76, 1460–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, P. R. 1971. The North Greenland Fold belt and environs. Bull geol. Soc. Denmark, 20, 197–239.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F. 1969. Evolution of the Appalachian/Caledonian orogen. Nature, Lond. 22, 124–9.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F., Rickards, R. B. & Skevington, D. 1970. New light on the age of Dalradian deformation and metamorphism in western Ireland. Norsk geol. Tidsskr. 50, 19–44.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F. & Bird, J. M. 1971. Origin and emplacement of the ophiolite suite: Appalachian ophiolites in Newfoundland. J. geophys. Res. 76, 3179–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fränkl, E. 1956. Some general remarks on the Caledonian chain of East Greenland. Meddr Grønland, 103 (11), 43 pp.Google Scholar
Føyn, S. 1967. Stratigraphical consequences of the discovery of Silurian fossils on Magerøy, the island of North Cape. Norg. geol. Unders. 247, 208–22.Google Scholar
Gayer, R. A. (in press) Caledonian geology of Arctic Norway. (Second Symposium on Arctic Geology, San Francisco.) Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Memoir.Google 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. Skr. norsk Polarinst. Nr. 137. Oslo. 39 pp.Google Scholar
Gayer, R. A. & Roberts, J. D. 1971. The structural relationships of the Caledonian nappes of Porsangerfjord, West Finnmark, N. Norway. Norg. geol. Unders. 269, 21–67.Google Scholar
Hamilton, W. 1970. The Uralides and the motion of the Russian and Siberian Platforms. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 81, 2553–76. (in press) Continental Drift in Arctic. (Second Symposium on Arctic Geology, San Francisco.) Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Memoir.Google Scholar
Haller, J. 1970. The tectonic map of Greenland. Meddr Grønland.Google Scholar
Haller, J. 1971. The Geology of the East Greenland Caledonides. Wiley.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1959. The Caledonian sequence in Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 114, 307–42.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1969(a) Contribution of Spitsbergen to understanding of tectonic evolution of North Atlantic region. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Memoir 12, 817–51.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1969(b) Mantle changes beneath the Barents Shelf. Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. Ser. II, 31, (1), 25–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1971. Tectonic transpression in Caledonian Spitsbergen. Geol. Mag. 108 (1), 27–42. (in press) Tectonic evolution of the Barents Shelf and related plates. (Second Symposium on Arctic Geology, San Francisco 1971) Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Memoir.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B. & Horsfield, W. T. (in press) West Spitsbergen Orogen [Data for orogenic studies] Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 4.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H. & Sturt, B. A. 1970. On the occurrence of Archaeocyathids in the Caledonian metamorphic rocks of Sørøy and their stratigraphic significance. Norsk geol. Tidsskr. 50, 341–55.Google Scholar
Hollingworth, S. E., Wells, M. K. & Bradshaw, R. 1960. Geology and structure of the Glomfjord region, northern Norway. Int. geol. Congr. 21, (19), 33–42.Google Scholar
Holmes, A. 1933. The thermal history of the earth. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 23, 169–95.Google Scholar
Holtedahl, O. 1944. On the Caledonides of Norway. Det Norske Vid. Akad. Skr. 1 Mat.-Naturv. Kl. No. 4.Google Scholar
Horn, G. & Orvin, A. K. 1928. Geology of Bear Island, with special reference to the coal deposits, and with an account of the history of the island. Skr. Svalb. og Ishavet. Nr. 15. 152 pp.Google Scholar
Horsfield, W. T. 1972. Glaucophane schists of Caledonian age from Spitsbergen. Geol. Mag. 109, 29–36.Google Scholar
Jepsen, H. F. 1969. Preliminary report on the stratigraphy of the Precambrian and Eocambrian sediments in the Jørgen Bronlund Fjord–Midsommersø area, Southern Peary Land. Rapp. Grønlands geol. Unders. 19, 11–14.Google Scholar
Kerr, J. W. 1967. Stratigraphy of central and eastern Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada. Part 1. Proterozoic and Cambrian. Pap. geol. Surv. Can. 67–27 (1), 63 pp.Google Scholar
Koch, L. 1929. Stratigraphy of Greenland. Meddr Grønland, 73, 205–320.Google Scholar
Kulling, O. 1934. The ‘Hecla Hoek Formation’ round Hinlopenstredet. Geogr. Annaler. Stockh. Arg. XVI, Häft 4, 161–254.Google Scholar
Kulling, O. 1960. On the Caledonides of Swedish Lapland. In Description to accompany the map of Pre-Quaternary rock of Sweden. Sver. geol. Unders., Ser. Ba. 16, 150–77.Google Scholar
Kulling, O. 1964. Oversikt over Norra Norrbottensfjallens Kaledon berggrund. Sver. geol. Unders., Ser. Ba. 19, 1–166.Google Scholar
Laird, M. G. (in press (a)) The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Laksefjord Group, Finnmark, Norway. Norsk. geol. Tidsskr. (in press (b)) Sedimentation of the ?Late Precambrian Raggo Group, Varanger Peninsula, Northern Norway. Norsk geol. Tidsskr.Google Scholar
Lochman, C. 1956. Stratigraphy, Palaeontology, and Palaeogeography of the Elliptocephala Asaphoides strata in Cambridge and Hooside Quadrangles, New York. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 67, 1331–96.Google Scholar
Nicholson, R. 1971. Faunal Provinces and Ancient Continents in the Scandinavian Caledonides. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 82, 2345–56.Google Scholar
Nicholson, R. & Rutland, R. W. R. 1969. A section across the Norwegian Caledonides; Bodø to Sutitjelma. Norg. geol. Unders. 260, 86 pp.Google Scholar
Orvin, A. K. 1934. Geology of the Kings Bay region, Spitsbergen, with special reference to the coal deposits. Skr. Svalb. og Ishavet Nr. 57. 195 pp.Google Scholar
Ostenso, N. A. & Wold, R. J. 1971. Aeromagnetic Survey of the Arctic Ocean, techniques and interpretations. Marine geophys. Res. 1, 178–219.Google Scholar
Pringle, I. R. 1971. A review of Radiometric Age determinations from the Caledonides of West Finnmark. Norg. geol. Unders. 269, 191–6.Google Scholar
Pringle, I. R. & Sturt, B. A. 1970. The age of the peak of the Caledonian Orogeny in West Finnmark, North Norway. Norsk geol. Tidsskr. 49, 435–43.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. D. (in press) Stratigraphy and correlation of Gaissa Sandstone Formation and Börselv Subgroup (Porsangerfjord Group), South Porsanger, Finnmark. Norg. geol. Unders.Google Scholar
Siedlecka, A. & Siedlecki, S. 1967. Some new aspects of the geology of Varanger Peninsula, Northern Norway. Norg. geol. Unders. 247, 288–330.Google Scholar
Siedlecka, A. 1971. Late Precambrian sedimentary rocks of the Tanafjord–Varangerfjord region of Varanger Peninsula, Northern Norway. Norg. geol. Unders. 269, 246–94.Google Scholar
Smith, A. G. 1971. Alpine deformation and the oceanic areas of the Tethys, Mediterranean and Atlantic. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 82, 2039–70.Google Scholar
Soper, N. J. 1970. A section through the north Peary Land fold belt. Proc. geol. Soc. No. 1662, June 1970, 60–1.Google Scholar
Sturt, B. A., Miller, J. A. & Fitch, F. J. 1967. The age of the Alkaline Rocks from West Finnmark, Northern Norway, and their bearing on the Dating of the Caledonian Orogeny. Norsk geol. Tidsskr. 47, 255–73.Google Scholar
Swett, K. (in press) Cambro-Ordovician Depositional Environments in central East Greenland. (Second Symposium on Arctic Geology, San Francisco) Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Memoirs.Google Scholar
Trettin, H. P. 1969. A Paleozoic-Tertiary fold belt in northernmost Ellesmere Island aligned with the Lomonosov Ridge. Geol. soc. Am. Bull. 80, 143–8. (in press) Early Palaeozoic evolution of northern parts of Canadian Arctic Islands. (Second Symposium on Arctic Geology, San Francisco). A.A.P.G. Memoir.Google Scholar
Vogt, P. R. & Ostenso, N. A. 1971. Geophysical Studies in the Barents and Kara Seas. Abstr. 2nd Int. Symp. Arctic Geology.Google Scholar
Waterschoot van der, Gracht. 1928. Introduction, pp. 1–75 In Theory of Continental Drift (A Symposium …) Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Tulsa, pp. 1–240.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. & Hughes, C. P. (in press) Ordovician trilobite distribution and geology. (Organisms and Continents through time. Joint G.S./P.A./S.A. Symposium).Google Scholar
Williams, A. (in press) Distribution of brachiopod assemblages in relation to Ordovician palaeogeography. (Organisms and Continents through time. Joint G.S./P.A./S.A. Symposium.)Google Scholar
Wilson, J. T. 1966. Did the Atlantic close and then re-open? Nature, Lond. 211 (5050), 676–81.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. R. 1971. The timing of orogenic activity in the Bodø-Sulitjelma tract. Norg. geol. Unders. 269, 184–90.Google Scholar