Early Svecofennian stratigraphy of southern and central Norrland, Sweden, and the possible existence of an archaean basement west of the Svecokarelides

Abstract

The stratigraphy of supracrustal sequences of seven different areas in southern and central Norrland, Sweden, are compared. All the sequences belong to the Svecofennian part of the early Proterozoic Svecokarelian fold belt. It is concluded that quartzites and meta-arkoses are usually found at high stratigraphic levels. They are sparse or absent in the north but are more abundant in southern Norrland. This may suggest that a granitic (Archaean or early Proterozoic) basement was exposed to erosion somewhere southwest of the regions under consideration. Future research should aim at clarifying the age and extent of this basement, and the provenance of the various metasedimentary rocks.