Characteristics of the West Greenland Margin in the Southern Baffin Bay

Abstract

For reliable hydrocarbon assessment of the West Greenland margin information about the structural inventory including the location of the continent ocean boundary is of special importance. There is still no consensus about the nature of the underlying crust in central Baffin Bay. A new multichannel seismic traverse extending from the outer shelf of the south-eastern Baffin Bay into the deep sea area is presented and discussed. The most spectacular features along the traverse are the flood basalts extending into the deep Baffin Bay, the about 30 km wide wedge of seaward dipping reflectors (SDR’s), and the well recognizable breakup unconformity. These features indicate clearly that oceanic crust exists in the deep Baffin Bay and that Greenland’s continental margin in the south-eastern Baffin Bay is a volcanic passive margin. The continent-ocean transition (COT) could be determined at the seaward termination of the wedge of SDR’s. From the fact that the rifting phase was ongoing after the extrusion of the flood basalts it is deduced, that the beginning of the drift phase and thus the onset of seafloor spreading is younger than the flood basalts. It is proposed that in the southern Baffin Bay seafloor spreading started in the Early Eocene.