Paleocene-Eocene volcanic segmentation of the Norwegian-Greenland seaway reorganized high-latitude ocean circulation
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
The paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic development of the Norwegian–Greenland seaway remains poorly understood, despite its importance for the oceanographic and climatic conditions of the Paleocene–Eocene greenhouse world. Here we present analyses of the sedimentological and paleontological characteristics of Paleocene–Eocene deposits (between 63 and 47 million years old) in northeast Greenland, and investigate key unconformities and volcanic facies observed through seismic reflection imaging in offshore basins. We identify Paleocene–Eocene uplift that culminated in widespread regression, volcanism, and subaerial exposure during the Ypresian. We reconstruct the paleogeography of the northeast Atlantic–Arctic region and propose that this uplift led to fragmentation of the Norwegian–Greenland seaway during this period. We suggest that the seaway became severely restricted between about 56 and 53 million years ago, effectively isolating the Arctic from the Atlantic ocean during the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum and the early Eocene.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 172 |
Journal | Communications Earth and Environment |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 1 |
ISSN | 2662-4435 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
GEUS and the ministry of mineral resources (Government of Greenland) funded data collection in Wollaston Forland and Clavering Ø areas. Other work was funded by GEUS. Insightful comments by Matt O’Regan, Henk Brinkhuis, and Stéphane Polteau are greatly appreciated. We thank Jette Halskov for skillful drafting of the figures.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
ID: 355624591