Impact of glaciations on basin evolution: data and models from the Norwegian margin and adjacent areas—Introduction and summary

Abstract

present publication arose from a workshop held at the Glacier Museum in Fjzerland on the west coast of Norway during May 30 to June 2, 1994, as a part of the European program Late Cenozoic Evolution of the Polar North Atlantic Margins (PONAM). PONAM was initiated in 1989, and approximately 70 scientists from seven European countries have been active in the program. basic theme has been climatic changes during the last 5 million years on the margins at both sides of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, the East Greenland Margin and the Svalbard-Barents Sea margin. As part of PONAM, a sub-project, The Svalbard Traverse; effects of interglacial-glacial variations, was organized particularly to study the effects of glaciations on the sedimentary regime in the Barents Sea and the Svalbard margin. theme of the workshop in 1994 was Glacial Cycles--Effects on the Physical Environment, and the idea was to bring scientists from both the glacial geological community and the petroleum industry together, in order to discuss effects of glacial cycles with particular reference to basin evolution and petroleum potential. Most of the contributions to this publication were presented orally or as posters during the workshop.