Abstract
Abstract We present a revised tectonostratigraphy of the Jan Mayen microcontinent (JMMC) and its southern extent, with the focus on its relationship to the Greenland–Iceland–Faroe Ridge area and the Faroe–Iceland Fracture Zone. The microcontinent's Cenozoic evolution consists of six main phases corresponding to regional stratigraphic unconformities. Emplacement of Early Eocene plateau basalts at pre-break-up time (56–55 Ma), preceded the continental break-up (55 Ma) and the formation of seawards-dipping reflectors (SDRs) along the eastern and SE flanks of the JMMC. Simultaneously with SDR formation, orthogonal seafloor spreading initiated along the Ægir Ridge (Norway Basin) during the Early Eocene (C24n2r, 53.36 Ma to C22n, 49.3 Ma). Changes in plate motions at C21n (47.33 Ma) led to oblique seafloor spreading offset by transform faults and uplift along the microcontinent's southern flank. At C13n (33.2 Ma), spreading rates along the Ægir Ridge started to decrease, first south and then in the north. This was probably complemented by intra-continental extension within the JMMC, as indicated by the opening of the Jan Mayen Basin – a series of small pull-apart basins along the microcontinent's NW flank. JMMC was completely isolated when the mid-oceanic Kolbeinsey Ridge became fully established and the Ægir Ridge was abandoned between C7 and C6b (24–21.56 Ma).
Highlights
Ridge (Vogt et al 1970; Talwani et al 1976a), a steep-flanked bathymetric horst structure with water depths varying between 200 and 2500 m that extends south from Jan Mayen Island
Based on modern datasets, it is accepted that the microcontinent is much larger than this and encompasses a number distinct, structurally controlled tectonic features that were formed by a succession of tectonic and volcanic events (e.g. Scott et al 2005; Gaina et al 2009; Peron-Pinvidic et al 2012a, b; Gernigon et al 2012)
The objective of this study was to construct a detailed tectonostratigraphic history of the Jan Mayen microcontinent with a focus on the southernmost area. This was integrated into kinematic reconstructions of the central NE Atlantic to better understand the Cenozoic development and the implications for the pre-Cenozoic development of regional rift basins, remnants of which probably underlie the JMMC
Summary
Ridge (Vogt et al 1970; Talwani et al 1976a), a steep-flanked bathymetric horst structure with water depths varying between 200 and 2500 m that extends south from Jan Mayen Island. Devonian onshore rift basins along East Greenland (Henriksen 2008) and SW Norway (Osmundsen & Andersen 1994, 2001; Osmundsen et al 2002) are well documented, including their complex relationship to large-scale transtensional tectonics (Osmundsen & Andersen 2001) These basins are interpreted to extend in the central and northern part of the NE Atlantic during the Carboniferous, and were not affected by the Variscan Orogeny (Hopper et al 2014), which occurred at the same time and influenced the NE and SE regions of the NE Atlantic, the North Sea and northern Europe (Pharaoh et al 2010). The Cretaceous rifting phase may have included a hyperextension (Peron-Pinvidic et al 2013), resulting in exhumation of deep crust and possibly mantle, as suggested by Osmundsen et al (2002) or Osmundsen & Ebbing (2008)
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