Age of Tertiary formations on Spitsbergen

Abstract

Biostratigraphic evidence for the age of Tertiary formations on Spitsbergen is critically reviewed and new evidence from dinoflagellates is presented. The shift in basin geometry and sediment source area observed in the Gilsonryggen Formation is dated as latest Palaeocene, coinciding with the initial opening of the Norwegian Sea at anomaly 24–25 time. An Upper Eocene age is proposed for sediments from Forlandsundet (Sarsbukta), indicating that the Forlandsundet graben was created during the phase of shear movement between Greenland and Spitsbergen before anomaly 13 time.

Paleocene methane seep and wood-fall marine environments from Spitsbergen, Svalbard

“…4; Costa and Manum, 1988). The assemblage is very similar to that previously described from the same locality (Manum and Throndsen, 1986;fig. 4, p. 113) however these authors suggested the interval closer to the lower/upper Paleocene boundary (upper D2 zone).…”

“…This difference in age interpretation results from the presence of C. striatum, which occurs until the lower part of D4 (Powell, 1992) and the appearance of C. dartmoorium in the upper D3 (the lower/upper Paleocene boundary in Manum and Throndsen, 1986).…”

Are there Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks preserved on Sørkapp Land, Svalbard?

“…The lower boundary of the formation is well defined by the incoming of thick shales over the sandstones of the underlying Firkanten Formation (Dallmann, 1999). The formation is dated as Late Paleocene based on palynology (Manum & Throndsen, 1986) and foraminifera (Nagy et al, 2000;Nagy, 2005).…”

“…The ages and chronology of the Cenozoic formations on Svalbard have been a ticklish problem for decades (see reviews in Throndsen, 1986 andČepek &Krutszh, 2001). Some of the initial studies based on land plants and molluscs suffered from the low stratigraphic resolution of this material.…”

“…Likewise, the very abundant terrestrial palynomorph assemblages found in these deltaic to shallow-marine sequences of the Cenozoic succession generally only contain long-ranging species of limited value for high-resolution biostratigraphy (Manum, 1962;Cepek & Krutszh, 2001). More precise age determinations have been obtained from foraminifera, nannofossils and dinoflagellate cysts (Manum, 1960;Feyling-Hansen & Ulleberg, 1984;Head, 1984;Manum & Throndsen, 1986;Matthiessen, 1986;Smelror, 1996;Čepek, 2001;Harding et al, 2011) and from geochemical data (Dypvik et al, 2011;Harding et al, 2011), but these fossils and geochemical records are confined to intervals of strong marine influence.…”