Abstract
The geological development of Greenland spans a period of nearly 4 Ga, from Eoarchaean to the Quaternary. Greenland is the largest island on Earth with a total area of 2 166 000 km2, but only c. 410 000 km2 are exposed bedrock, the remaining part being covered by a major ice sheet (the Inland Ice) reaching over 3 km in thickness. The adjacent offshore areas underlain by continental crust have an area of c. 825 000 km2.
 Greenland is dominated by crystalline rocks of the Precambrian shield, which formed during a succession of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic orogenic events and stabilised as a part of the Laurentian shield about 1600 Ma ago. The shield area can be divided into three distinct types of basement provinces: (1) Archaean rocks (3200–2600 Ma old, with local older units up to> 3800 Ma) that were almost unaffected by Proterozoic or later orogenic activity; (2) Archaean terrains reworked during the Palaeoproterozoic around 1900–1750 Ma ago; and (3) terrains mainly composed of juvenile Palaeoproterozoic rocks (2000–1750 Ma in age). Subsequent geological developments mainly took place along the margins of the shield. During the Proterozoic and throughout the Phanerozoic major sedimentary basins formed, notably in North and North-East Greenland, in which sedimentary successions locally reaching 18 km in thickness were deposited. Palaeozoic orogenic activity affected parts of these successions in the Ellesmerian fold belt of North Greenland and the East Greenland Caledonides; the latter also incorporates reworked Precambrian crystalline basement complexes.
 Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary basins developed along the continent–ocean margins in North, East and West Greenland and are now preserved both onshore and offshore. Their development was closely related to continental break-up with formation of rift basins. Initial rifting in East Greenland in latest Devonian to earliest Carboniferous time and succeeding phases culminated with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean in the late Paleocene. Sea-floor spreading was accompanied by extrusion of Palaeogene (early Tertiary) plateau basalts in both central West and central–southern East Greenland.
 During the Quaternary Greenland was almost completely covered by ice, and the present day Inland Ice is a relic from the Pleistocene ice ages. Vast amounts of glacially eroded detritus were deposited on the continental shelves around Greenland.
 Mineral exploitation in Greenland has so far encompassed cryolite, lead-zinc, gold, olivine and coal. Current prospecting activities in Greenland are concentrated on gold, base metals, platinum group elements, molybdenum, iron ore, diamonds and lead-zinc. Hydrocarbon potential is confined to the major Phanerozoic sedimentary basins, notably the large basins offshore North-East and West Greenland. While reserves of oil or gas have yet to be found, geophysical data combined with discoveries of oil seeps onshore have revealed a considerable potential for offshore oil and gas.
Highlights
A general overview of the geology of the whole of Greenland in the form of a coloured map sheet, the tectonic/geological map of Greenland, was published by the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU) in 1970 at a scale of 1:2 500 000
Much new information became available as a result of new systematic geological mapping in the ice-free land areas, notably in North, North-East and South-East Greenland, while offshore areas were investigated by a series of seismic, gravimetric and aeromagnetic surveys
At the time of compilation in 1995 the map included much new information from the ice-free land areas, and the offshore regions were represented for the first time on a map at this scale
Summary
This orogen (Fig. 2; van Gool et al 2002) extends from Søndre Strømfjord to Disko Bugt in West Greenland and continues southeastwards beneath the Inland Ice to the Ammassalik region in South-East Greenland It mainly consists of reworked Archaean gneisses [74, 75] (Connelly & Mengel 2000) and includes Palaeoproterozoic supracrustal and intrusive rocks [67, 78, 81]. 30 × 50 km) east and north-east of Sisimiut/Holsteinsborg is made up of Palaeoproterozoic (1910–1870 Ma) hypersthene gneisses, the Sisimiut intrusive complex (Kalsbeek & Nutman 1996; Connelly et al 2000; van Gool et al 2002) In the field these cannot be distinguished from Archaean rocks that occur farther east and, since no age determinations on these rocks were available at the time of map compilation, all the rocks in this area are shown on the map as Archaean, overprinted by Proterozoic granulite facies metamorphism [75]. The uppermost c. 200 m thick part of the continental Celsius Bjerg stage is considered early Tournaisian (Carboniferous) in age (Marshall et al 1999)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
