Abstract (shortened)
Facies analysis of Late Paleozoic warm-water carbonates, were conducted in order to investigate the depositional evolution, cyclicity, internal architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the upper Gipsdalen Group carbonate platform on the Nordfjorden High in central Spitsbergen. In addition a 3D seismic analysis of the offshore northeastern Loppa High was carried out to investigate a hitherto undescribed Late Paleozoic carbonate-dominated succession in the southwestern Barents Sea Shelf.
The Late Paleozoic carbonates of the Gipsdalen Group have previously been studied in great detail in central Spitsbergen and offshore in the Barents Sea using well data and seismic analysis. These studies have mainly focused on the tectonic development, depositional evolution and the sedimentary facies of the Late Paleozoic succession and have greatly improved the overall perception of the evolution of the Northern Pangean margin. In this study, the emphasis has been to understand the warm-water carbonate deposition, cyclicity, sequence stratigraphy and subaerial exposure events in high resolution across a structural high, all problems not fully understood so far in the Barents Sea. This Ph.D. study increase the knowledge on these topics and furthermore contribute with the first detailed outcrop analogue of a carbonate ramp on a structural high in the area - useful for the ongoing exploration studies of the Gipsdalen Group on offshore structural highs in the Barents Sea (e.g. Loppa High and Norsel High).