Abstract
The Rivieradal Group, formally defined here, is confined to the Vandredalen thrust sheet of the Caledonian orogen in Kronprins Christian Land, eastern North Greenland. It comprises a succession of Neoproterozoic siliciclastic sediments that represent the fill of a half-graben basin. The syn-rift Rivieradal Group is overlain by post-rift sediments of the Hagen Fjord Group. The latter succession is present in both the thrust sheet and the Caledonian foreland to the west. In the foreland, where the Rivieradal Group is not represented, the Hagen Fjord Group disconformably overlies Palaeoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic sandstones of the Independence Fjord Group.
Highlights
The Rivieradal Group, formally defined here, is confined to the Vandredalen thrust sheet of the Caledonian orogen in Kronprins Christian Land, eastern North Greenland
Kronprins Christian Land lies at the northern termination of the East Greenland Caledonides, and constitutes a key area for studies of the western border zone of the orogen (Fig. 1)
The Hagen Fjord Group is represented within the allochthon, in the Vandredalen thrust sheet, where it overlies the clastic sediments of the Rivieradal Group, which are the subject of this paper
Summary
Vandredalen thrust sheet, in turn, is structurally overlain by a thrust sheet that transported Palaeoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic clastic and volcanic rocks westwards. The allochthonous quartzites have traditionally been viewed as equivalents of the Independence Fjord Group on the foreland (see Figs 1, 2), but SHRIMP isotopic studies on rhyolites interbedded with the quartzites that yielded an age of 1740 Ma (Kalsbeek et al 1999) have cast some doubt on this interpretation (see Pedersen et al 2002). Still farther to the east, higher thick-skinned thrust sheets incorporate crystalline basement gneisses. This paper provides a formal stratigraphic basis, at group level, for the rocks that underlie the Hagen Fjord Group within the Vandredalen thrust sheet, and collates available field data regarding this succession. Formal definition of the constituent formations awaits more detailed field analysis of the Rivieradal Group. The informal units of Fränkl (1954, 1955) were found to be generally usable as field divisions, there is uncertainty in places about their correlation
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