Geometry and kinematics of the Triassic rift basin in Jameson Land (East Greenland)

• Published in: Tectonics (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2017-04, Vol.36 (4), p.602-614
• Main Authors: Guarnieri, Pierpaolo, Brethes, Anaïs, Rasmussen, Thorkild M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basins; Carboniferous; Correlation; Drills; east Greenland; Exploration Geophysics; Fault lines; Fault zones; Fieldwork; Fjords; Fracture zones; Graben; Jameson Land; Jurassic; Kinematics; northeast Atlantic; Offshore; Plate tectonics; Prospekteringsgeofysik; Rift zones; Rifting; Sediment; Sediments; Spine; Tectonics; Triassic; Triassic rifting
• ISSN: 0278-7407; 1944-9194; 1944-9194
• DOI: 10.1002/2016TC004419

The Triassic rift basin along the east Greenland margin described in this paper is represented by NE‐SW trending basins and highs segmented by NW‐SE trending transfer zones. Coarse‐grained sediments along the eastern side of Jameson Land are shown to be hosted in half‐graben structures belonging to the Carlsberg Fjord Basin that is bounded by NW dipping normal faults mapped and described after fieldwork in the Klitdal area in Liverpool Land. New aeromagnetic and electromagnetic data together with new drill cores allow the reinterpretation of available seismic lines showing the continuation of the Triassic rift basin toward the SW where it is buried under the Upper Triassic postrift sediments and the Jurassic successions of the Jameson Land Basin. The N‐S trending Liverpool Land, interpreted as the boundary block of the Triassic basin, is shown to represent a structural high inherited from the Late Carboniferous tectonics and faulted during the Triassic rifting. The Carlsberg Fjord Basin and the Klitdal Fault System described in this paper should be seen as analogues to the Helgeland Basin in the Norwegian offshore that is bounded by the Ylvingen Fault Zone and to the Papa and West of Shetlands Basins that are bounded by the Spine Fault. The Triassic rift zone and transfer faults on both conjugate margins show a straightforward correlation with the trends of the initial spreading line and fracture zones of the northeast Atlantic indicating a possible inheritance of the Triassic rifting. Key Points Triassic rifting along the east Greenland margin Integrated geophysical interpretation in the Jameson Land Correlation with the European conjugate margin