Seismic Volcanostratigraphy: The Key to Resolving the Jan Mayen Microcontinent and Iceland Plateau Rift Evolution

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  • Anett Blischke
  • Bryndís Brandsdóttir
  • Martyn S. Stoker
  • Carmen Gaina
  • Ögmundur Erlendsson
  • Christian Tegner
  • Sæmundur A. Halldórsson
  • Helga M. Helgadóttir
  • Bjarni Gautason
  • Sverre Planke
  • Anthony A.P. Koppers
  • Hopper, John Robert

Volcanostratigraphic and igneous province mapping of the Jan Mayen microcontinent (JMMC) and Iceland Plateau Rift (IPR) region have provided new insight into the development of rift systems during breakup processes. The microcontinent's formation involved two breakup events associated with seven distinct tectono-magmatic phases (∼63–21 Ma), resulting in a fan-shaped JMMC-IPR igneous domain. Primary structural trends and anomalous magmatic activity guided initial opening (∼63–56 Ma) along a SE-NW trend from the European margin and along a WNW-ESE trend from East Greenland. The eastern margin of the microcontinent formed during the first breakup (∼55–53 Ma), with voluminous subaerial volcanism and emplacement of multiple sets of SSW–NNE-aligned seaward-dipping reflector sequences. The more gradual, second breakup (∼52–23 Ma) consisted of four northwestward migrating IPR (I–IV) rift zones along the microcontinent's southern and western margins. IPR I and II (∼52–36 Ma) migrated obliquely into East Greenland, interlinked via segments of the Iceland-Faroe Fracture Zone, in overlapping sub-aerial and sub-surface igneous formations. IPR III and IV (∼35–23 Ma) formed a wide igneous domain south and west of the microcontinent, accompanied by uplift, regional tilting, and erosion as the area moved closer to the Iceland hotspot. The proto-Kolbeinsey Ridge formed at ∼22–21 Ma and connected to the Reykjanes Ridge via the Northwest Iceland Rift Zone, near the center of the hotspot. Eastward rift transfers, toward the proto-Iceland hotspot, commenced at ∼15 Ma, marking the initiation of segmented rift zones comparable to present-day Iceland.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2021GC009948
JournalGeochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Volume23
Issue number4
Number of pages45
ISSN1525-2027
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research project at the University of Iceland, the Iceland GeoSurvey, and the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, was funded by the National Energy Authority of Iceland (Orkustofnun), the Iceland GeoSurvey, and supported by the Norwegian Research Council by Centres of Excellence funding to CEED (project number 223272). Data permissions were provided by the National Energy Authority of Iceland (Orkustofnun), the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Spectrum ASA, TGS; the University of Oslo (UiO), the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), and Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). We thank the Marine Research Institute of Iceland (MRI), for making the multibeam and backscatter data available and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for use of their 2D multichannel reflection data sets from 2011 to 2012, and Prof. emerit. Olav Eldholm for permission to use the unpublished JMMC ESP data set. Seafloor borehole core samples were obtained from the Bremen Core Repository of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). The dating of core samples was carried out at the Oregon State University (OSU) Argon Geochronology Laboratory. Geochemical analyses were conducted at the University of Iceland, and the Aarhus University. Unpublished geochemical analyses of cores 32, 33, and 34 of DSDP Leg 38 site 348, and cores 14 and 15 of DSDP Leg 38 site 350 were kindly made available by Professor Godfrey Fitton at the University of Edinburgh and Prof. Christian Tegner at the Aarhus University. Martyn Stoker gratefully acknowledges the award of Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources at the University of Adelaide. Anett Blischke would like to thank Dr. Lotte Melchior Larsen and Dr. Hans Christian Larsen for valuable advice throughout this project. We thank the two anonymous reviewers and J. A. Karson for their insightful advice and constructive reviews.

Funding Information:
This research project at the University of Iceland, the Iceland GeoSurvey, and the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, was funded by the National Energy Authority of Iceland (Orkustofnun), the Iceland GeoSurvey, and supported by the Norwegian Research Council by Centres of Excellence funding to CEED (project number 223272). Data permissions were provided by the National Energy Authority of Iceland (Orkustofnun), the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Spectrum ASA, TGS; the University of Oslo (UiO), the Bundesanstalt f?r Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), and Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). We thank the Marine Research Institute of Iceland (MRI), for making the multibeam and backscatter data available and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for use of their 2D multichannel reflection data sets from 2011 to 2012, and Prof. emerit. Olav Eldholm for permission to use the unpublished JMMC ESP data set. Seafloor borehole core samples were obtained from the Bremen Core Repository of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). The dating of core samples was carried out at the Oregon State University (OSU) Argon Geochronology Laboratory. Geochemical analyses were conducted at the University of Iceland, and the Aarhus University. Unpublished geochemical analyses of cores 32, 33, and 34 of DSDP Leg 38 site 348, and cores 14 and 15 of DSDP Leg 38 site 350 were kindly made available by Professor Godfrey Fitton at the University of Edinburgh and Prof. Christian Tegner at the Aarhus University. Martyn Stoker gratefully acknowledges the award of Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources at the University of Adelaide. Anett Blischke would like to thank Dr. Lotte Melchior Larsen and Dr. Hans Christian Larsen for valuable advice throughout this project. We thank the two anonymous reviewers and J. A. Karson for their insightful advice and constructive reviews.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.

    Research areas

  • hotspot-ridge interaction, Iceland Plateau Rift, Jan Mayen microcontinent, overlapping rift systems, seismic volcanostratigraphy, structural inheritance

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