Cenozoic uplift of Fennoscandia inferred from a study of the mid-Norwegian margin

Abstract

Studies of the mid-Norwegian margin reveal that the Fennoscandian continental uplift represents a flexural intraplate deformation event separated in time and space from the regional syn-rift uplift associated with crustal breakup at the Plaeocene-Eocene transition. In the area 64–68°N, the uplift occurred from late Oligocene through Pliocene. During Late Pliocene and Pleistocene times the tectonic uplift was amplified by isostatic rebound in response to the Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The tectonic uplift component reaches ∼ 1 km in the northern part of the study area decreasing to the south. The shelf stratigraphy and sediment composition record the combined effects of tectonic uplift, eustatic sea level changes and Neogene climatic deterioration. The coeval uplift and climatic change may suggest causal relations. The resulting depositional model has three stages: (1) late Miocene (∼ 10.5-5.5 m.y.) increased continental erosion and deposition of prograding wedges most of which were later removed; (2) early-middle Pliocene (5.5-2.6 m.y.) development of extensive local ice-sheets reaching the coastline and deposition of the prominent, oldest Pliocene wedges; (3) Northern Hemisphere glaciation (2.6-0.01 m.y.) resulting in the younger wedges farther west covered by Quaternary deposits. The model is consistent with the development of landforms on the adjacent mainland. Both the tectonic and isostatic components of the Fennoscandian uplift appear to vary in magnitude along the uplift axis, however separation of the syn-rift plate boundary related uplift and the intraplate event support the Neogene age of the main Fennoscandian uplift. We document a correspondence between structural and physiographic margin segmentation and uplift magnitude and suggest that the intraplate deformation has a thermal origin. A hot-cold asthenosphere boundary beneath the Caledonide-Baltic Shield transition combined with pre-Tertiary relief at the base of the lithosphere might induce small-scale convection and preferential volume expansion beneath the observed elongate uplift.