Sedimentology of the Lower Cretaceous at Kikutodden and Keilhaufjellet, southern Spitsbergen: implications for an onshore–offshore link

Abstract

ABSTRACTDetailed sedimentological investigations of the Lower Cretaceous succession of southernmost Spitsbergen indicate deposition during a long-term fall and rise in relative sea level. The Rurikfjellet Formation shows an overall regressive development and consists of offshore deposits grading upwards into progradationally stacked shoreface parasequences. The overlying Helvetiafjellet Formation shows a two-fold division reflecting an overall transgressive development. The lower Festningen Member represents a lateral extensive sandstone sheet that was deposited in a braid plain setting with sediment dispersal to the south-east. The unit also includes a lower Barremian subaerial unconformity at its base, demonstrating that uplift and shelf erosion also took place in southern Spitsbergen. Clinoforms observed in seismic data from, amongst others, the Lower Cretaceous in the western Bjarmeland Platform suggest a potential link between the onshore unconformity and the offshore clinoforms. The Festningen Membe...