On the geology of the country around ivigtut, SW-Greenland

Abstract

Based on recent survey work sponsored by the Geological Survey of Greenland, an attempt is made here to establish an appropriate background to the cryolite deposit at Ivigtut. The cryolite ore body occurs within the original top part of a stock of alkali granite which, during the younger time of the cratonic Gardar period, was emplaced into the older, folded basement rocks. Close to the granite stock a breccia pipe occurs. Both bodies were cut by tinguaitic dykes before the actual “mise en place” of the cryolite body. The various events which contributed to such a set-up are discussed from both local and regional angles. Certain older basement structures, such as e.g. a Ketilidian depression zone, a younger, partial mobilisation of the dyke-cut Ketilidian crust, followed by the ascent of fluorite-bearing granites, may well have influenced the super-imposed Gardar tectonics. During the Gardar period, a regional system of wrench faults was active — in interaction with Atlantic volcanism.