The Kilen Expedition 1985

Abstract

The 1985 expedition constitutes the first comprehensive investigation of the isolated, hyperarctic semi­nunatak Kilen in eastern North Greenland. Well over 3 km of generally marine, elastic sediments are preserved from the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous period. While half this amount accumulated in ·a comparatively stable tectonic regime prevailing during Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous time, the Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Coniacian) sediments are characterized by their deposition in a local pull-apart basin developed in the regional Wandel Hav Strike-Slip Mobile Belt. Subsequent, localized compression along this belt has deformed the entire sequence rather severely in a complex series of en echelon domal folding and thrusting, most likely during the later part of the Cretaceous. Quaternary marine sediments of probable interglacial origin (> 100.000 years old) have been found to contain a mollusc fauna requiring temperatures above the present level. Flade lsblink, the largest local icecap in Greenland, is composed of several semi-independant ice domes, and there is evidence that the history of this icecap deviates significantly from that of the Inland Ice. A total of 34 species of higher plants, 29 species of birds, and 11 species of mammals have been recorded from Kilen; vegetation studies indicate a July mean temperature of around 2.5°C.