Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:26:40.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Glacial or non-glacial origin for the Bigganjargga tillite, Finnmark, northern Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

P. A. Jensen  and
E. Wulff-Pedersen
P. A. Jensen
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology & Geology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
E. Wulff-Pedersen
Affiliation:
Mineralogical-Geological Museum, University of Oslo, Sarsgate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bigganjargga is the classic locality for the Varangian ice age in northern Scandinavia. The presence of two sets of striations on the underlying quartzite basement has been taken as evidence for a glacial origin of the Bigganjargga diamictite. However, soft-sediment surface structures on the underlying sandstone indicate that it was not consolidated when the diamictite was emplaced. Together with structures in the diamictite this shows that the deposit formed as a debris flow moving northwestwards over an unconsolidated substrate. There is no evidence for glacial origin or contribution for the diamictite material.

Type
Research Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 133 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 137 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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

Banks, N. L., Edwards, M. B., Geddes, W. P., Hobday, D. A., & Reading, H. G., 1971. Late Precambrian and Cambro-Ordovician sedimentation in East Finnmark. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 269, 197–236.Google Scholar
Bjørlykke, K., 1967. The Eocambrian “Reusch moraine” at Bigganjargga and the geology around Varangerfjord; northern Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 251, 18–44.Google Scholar
Blackwelder, E., 1930. Striated boulders as evidence of glacial action (abstract). Geological Society of America Bulletin 41, 154.Google Scholar
Bylund, G., 1994. Palaeomagnetism of the late Precambrian Vadsø and Barents Sea Groups, Varanger peninsula, Norway. Precambrian Research 69, 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowell, J. C., 1964. Climatic significance of sedimentary deposits containing dispersed megaclasts. In Problems in Palaeoclimatology (ed. Nairn, A. E. M.), pp. 86–99. London: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Dal, A., 1900. Geologiske iaktagelser omkring Varangerfjorden. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 28(5), 1–16.Google Scholar
Dott, R. H., 1961. Squantum “Tillite”, Massachusetts — Evidence of glaciation or subaqueous mass movements? Geological Society of America Bulletin 72, 1289–1306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dott, R. H., 1963. Dynamics of subaqueous gravity depositional processes. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 47, 104–28.Google Scholar
Edwards, M. B., 1975. Glacial retreat sedimentation in the Smalfjord Formation, Late Precambrian, North Norway. Sedimentology 22, 75–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M. B., 1984. Sedimentology of the Upper Proterozoic glacial record, Vestertana Group, Finnmark, North Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 394, 1–76.Google Scholar
Føyn, S., 1937. The Eo-Cambrian series of the Tana district, Northern Norway. Norsk Geologisk Tidskrift 17, 65–164.Google Scholar
Føyn, S., 1964. The tillite-bearing formations of the Alta district — a correlation with eastern Finnmark. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 228,139–50.Google Scholar
Føyn, S., & Siedlecki, S., 1980. Glacial stadials and interstadials of the Late Precambrian Smalfjord tillite on Laksefjordvidda, Finnmark, North Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 358, 31–45.Google Scholar
Gustavson, M., 1963. Grunnfjellsvinduer i Dividalen, Troms. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 223, 92–105.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B., 1965. Critical evidence for a great infra-Cambrian glaciation. Geologische Rundschau 54,45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmsen, P., 1956. Hyolithus-sonens basale lag i Vest-Finnmark. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 195,65–72.Google Scholar
Holtedahl, O., 1918. Bidrag til Finnmarkens geologi. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 84, 311 pp.Google Scholar
Judson, S., & Barks, R. E., 1961. Microstriations on polished pebbles. American Journal of Science 259, 371–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krinsley, D. H., & Doornkamp, J. C., 1973. Atlas of quartz sand surface textures. London: Cambridge University Press, 91 pp.Google Scholar
Lundqvist, J., 1985. Glacitectonic and till or tillite genesis: examples from Pleistocene glacial drift in central Sweden. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 51, 389–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Middleton, G. V., & Hampton, M. A., 1976. Subaqueous sediment transport and deposition by sediment gravity flows. In Marine sediment transport and environmental managment (eds Stanley, D. J. and Swift, D. J. P.), pp. 197–218. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Naylor, M. A., 1981. Debris flow (olistostromes) and slumping on a distal passive continental margin: the Palombini limestone-shale sequence of the northern Apennines. Sedimentology 28, 837–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nystuen, J. P., 1985. Facies and preservation of glaciogenic sequences from the Varanger Ice Age in Scandinavia and other parts of the North Atlantic region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 51, 209–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pharaoh, T. C., 1985. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of autochthonous metasediments in the Repparfjord-Komagfjord tectonic window, west Finnmark. In The Caledonide orogen — Scandinavia and related areas (eds Gee, D. G. and Sturt, B. A.), pp. 347–57. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Reading, H. G., & Walker, R. G., 1966. Sedimentation of Eocambrian tillites and associated sediments in Finnmark, northern Norway. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2,177–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reusch, H., 1891. Skuringsmerker og morenegrus eftervist i Finnmarken fra en periode meget eldre end “istiden”. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse aarbok 1891, 78–100.Google Scholar
Savage, N. D., 1972. Soft-sediment glacial grooving of Dwyka age in South Africa. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 42, 307–8.Google Scholar
Schermerhorn, L. J. G., 1974. Late Precambrian mixtites: glacial and/or nonglacial? American Journal of Science 274,673–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scrivenor, J. B., 1929. The mudstreams (“lahars”) of Gunong Keloet in Java. Geological Magazine 66,433–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siedlecka, A., & Siedlecki, S., 1971. Late Precambrian sedimentary rocks of the Tanafjord—Varangerfjord region of Varanger peninsula, northern Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 269,246–94.Google Scholar
Siedlecka, A., & Roberts, D., 1992. The bedrock geology of the Varanger Peninsula, Finnmark, North, Norway: an excursion guide. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse Special Publications 5, 1–45.Google Scholar
Stanley, D. J., & Unrug, R., 1972. Submarine channel deposits, fluxoturbidites and other indicators of slope and base-of-slope environments in modern and ancient marine basins. In Recognition of ancient sedimentary environments (eds Rigby, J. K. and Hamblin, W. K.), pp. 287–340. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication no. 16.Google Scholar
Swarbrick, R. E., & Naylor, M. A., 1980. The Kathikas mélange, SW Cyprus: late Cretaceous submarine debris flows. Sedimentology 27,63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., & Tarling, D. H., 1983. Palaeomagnetic properties of Eocambrian sediments in northwestern Scotland: implications for world-wide glaciation in the Late Precambrian. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 41, 325–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogt, T., 1967. Fjellkjedestudier i den østlige del av Troms. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 248, 5–59.Google Scholar
White, B., 1968. The Porsanger sandstone formation and subjacent rocks in the Lakselv district, Finnmark, northern Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 255, 59–85.Google Scholar
Winterer, E. L., & Von der Borch, C. C., 1968. Striated pebbles in a mudflow deposit, South Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 5, 205–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar