Seaward extension of the west greenland tertiary volcanic province

Abstract

Tertiary basalts from west Greenland and eastern Baffin Island, Canada are important when considering the history of spreading in the North Atlantic, the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay. They also form a significant part of the Brito-Arctic Tertiary volcanic province. Surveys at sea off Disko Island show that basalts of west Greenland extend many tens of kilometers offshore forming a large part of the continental shelf, and on the shelf extend well north of the most northerly occurrences on land. The surveys also show the first evidence of substance for the existence of sedimentary basins on the west Greenland shelf, akin perhaps to those of the Atlantic Coastal Plain of eastern North America.