|
Original Article |
1 1Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark (e-mail: akh@geus.dk)
2 2Present address: Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental Centre, N-9296 Tromsø, Norway
3 3Present address: La Janone, Route de Cotignac, F-83570 Entrecasteaux, France
4 4Present address: DONG A/S, Production Operations, Agern Allé 24–26, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark
5 5Department of Geoscience, 121 Trowbridge Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
6 6Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
7 7Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
8 8Tectonics Special Research Centre, School of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
9 9British Geological Survey, Murchison House, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, UK
0 10Lapworth Museum, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
1 11Present address: Marchmyers Cottage, Breda, Alford AB33 8NQ, UK
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.
Keywords: Caledonian orogeny, Greenland, Laurentia, thrusts.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  N. Henriksen and A.K. Higgins Geological research and mapping in the Caledonian orogen of East Greenland, 70{degrees}N-82{degrees}N Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 1 - 27. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A.K. Higgins and A. G. Leslie Architecture and evolution of the East Greenland Caledonides--An introduction Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 29 - 53. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Sonderholm, K. S. Frederiksen, M. P. Smith, and H. Tirsgaard Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins with glacigenic deposits of the East Greenland Caledonides Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 99 - 136. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. P. Smith and J. A. Rasmussen Cambrian-Silurian development of the Laurentian margin of the Iapetus Ocean in Greenland and related areas Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 137 - 167. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. G. Leslie and A.K. Higgins Foreland-propagating Caledonian thrust systems in East Greenland Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 169 - 199. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Gilotti, K. A. Jones, and S. Elvevold Caledonian metamorphic patterns in Greenland Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 201 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
F. Kalsbeek, A.K. Higgins, H. F. Jepsen, R. Frei, and A. P. Nutman Granites and granites in the East Greenland Caledonides Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 227 - 249. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Gilotti and W. C. McClelland Geometry, kinematics, and timing of extensional faulting in the Greenland Caledonides--A synthesis Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 251 - 271. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. G. Leslie, M. Smith, and N.J. Soper Laurentian margin evolution and the Caledonian orogeny--A template for Scotland and East Greenland Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 307 - 343. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Henriksen and A.K. Higgins Caledonian orogen of East Greenland 70{degrees}N-82{degrees}N: Geological map at 1:1,000,000--Concepts and principles of compilation Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: 345 - 368. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Henriksen, A.K. Higgins, J. A. Gilotti, and M. P. Smith Introduction--The Caledonides of Greenland Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2008; 202: v - xv. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Andresen, E.F. Rehnstrom, and M. Holte Evidence for simultaneous contraction and extension at different crustal levels during the Caledonian orogeny in NE Greenland Journal of the Geological Society, 2007; 164: 869 - 880. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Reinhard. O. Greiling and Zvi. Garfunkel An Early Ordovician (Finnmarkian?) foreland basin and related lithospheric flexure in the Scandinavian Caledonides Am J Sci, 2007; 307: 527 - 553. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Roberts, O. Nordgulen, and V. Melezhik The Uppermost Allochthon in the Scandinavian Caledonides: From a Laurentian ancestry through Taconian orogeny to Scandian crustal growth on Baltica Geological Society of America Memoirs, 2007; 200: 357 - 377. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. C. McClelland, S. E. Power, J. A. Gilotti, F. K. Mazdab, and B. Wopenka U-Pb SHRIMP geochronology and trace-element geochemistry of coesite-bearing zircons, North-East Greenland Caledonides Geological Society of America Special Papers, 2006; 403: 23 - 43. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. G. Gee, O. K. Bogolepova, and H. Lorenz The Timanide, Caledonide and Uralide orogens in the Eurasian high Arctic, and relationships to the palaeo-continents Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 507 - 520. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. V. Hodges A synthesis of the Channel Flow-Extrusion hypothesis as developed for the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic system Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2006; 268: 71 - 90. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
