Provenance of sandstones from Caledonian nappes in Finnmark, Norway: Implications for Neoproterozoic–Cambrian palaeogeography

Abstract

U–Pb detrital zircon age spectra from four formations in the Laksefjord and Kalak nappe complexes, Finnmark Caledonides, northern Norway, show peaks ranging from Neoarchaean through Late Palaeoproterozoic to Late Mesoproterozoic. Together with an extensive database of palaeocurrent flow measurements indicating derivation of the sediments from source regions to the S-SE on the Fennoscandian Shield, the successions in the lower thrust sheets of the Kalak Nappe Complex and the entire Laksefjord Nappe Complex are inferred to be of Baltican origin. These results are contrary to a previous suggestion that the sandstone-dominated Middle Allochthon is exotic to Baltica.The lithostratigraphical successions in these two nappe complexes show a south to north progression from alluvial-fan conglomerates through extensive fluvial to shallow-marine facies into deeper-marine turbiditic sequences. This pattern reflects the palaeogeographic transition from the shallow platform to deep-basinal oceanic development recorded along the c. 2000km pre-Timanian passive margin of the northeastern Fennoscandian Shield.