Abstract
AbstractBased on seven measured sections from Svalbard, the marine strata of the Permian Kapp Starostin Formation are arranged into seven transgressive–regressive sequences (TR1–TR7) ofc. 4–5 Ma average duration, each bound by a maximum regressive surface. Facies, including heterozoan-dominated limestones, spiculitic cherts, sandstones, siltstones and shales, record deposition within inner, middle and outer shelf areas. The lowermost sequence, TR1, comprises most of the basal Vøringen Member, which records a transgression across the Gipshuken Formation following a hiatus of unknown duration. Temperate to cold, storm-dominated facies established in inner to middle shelf areas between the latest Artinskian and Kungurian. Prolonged deepening during sequences TR2 and TR3 was succeeded by a long-term shallowing-upward trend that lasted until the latest Permian (TR4–TR7). A major depocentre existed in central and western Spitsbergen while to the north, Dickson Land remained a shallow platform, leading to a shallow homoclinal ramp in NE Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet. The Middle Permian extinction (late Capitanian) is recorded near the base of TR6 in deeper parts of the basin only; elsewhere this sequence is not recorded. Likewise the youngest sequence, TR7, extending to the upper formational contact of latest Permian age, is found only in the basin depocentre. Comparison with age-equivalent strata in the Sverdrup Basin of Canada reveals a remarkably similar depositional history, with, for example, two (third-order) sea-level cycles recorded in the Late Permian of both regions, in keeping with the global record. Sequence stratigraphy may therefore be a powerful correlative tool for onshore and offshore Permian deposits across NW Pangaea.
Highlights
The Permian Kapp Starostin Formation (Tempelfjorden Group) of Svalbard comprises a superbly exposed succession of biogenic cherts and carbonates with minor siliciclastic deposits
In central and western Spitsbergen the maximum regressive surfaces (MRSs) at the base of this sequence is succeeded once again by a thick pile of dark cherts that overlie the fossiliferous sandy cherts and grainstones, floatstones and rudstones that characterize the top of the preceding regressive systems tract (RST) (Fig. 4)
The first complete transgressive systems tract (TST)–RST package recorded by the Black Stripe Formation might be better placed within the Capitanian, in which case the early to middle Permian (Cisuralian–Guadalupian) sequence stratigraphic arrangement for the Sverdrup Basin matches that of Svalbard almost perfectly
Summary
The Permian Kapp Starostin Formation (Tempelfjorden Group) of Svalbard comprises a superbly exposed succession of biogenic cherts and carbonates with minor siliciclastic deposits (sandstones, siltstones and shales). Previous sequence stratigraphic studies of the Kapp Starostin Formation have largely focused on correlation with contemporaneous offshore (Barents Sea) strata and were based on a limited number of sections We present a more comprehensive sequence stratigraphic model for the Kapp Starostin Formation, based on seven onshore sections spanning the greater portion of the Svalbard archipelago. This is intended to facilitate correlation of the onshore and offshore strata of the Barents Sea and its counterparts across northern Pangaea. Detailed facies analysis provides the main tool for correlating the study sections, resulting in the interpretation of lateral facies relationships and the basin morphology, and a reconstruction of the sea-level history for the Artinskian to Changhsingian depositional period of the Kapp Starostin Formation
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