Back to search

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Strain Partitioning and Decoupling in Hornsund during the Ellesmerian and Eurekan orogenies

Awarded: NOK 76,763

This field excursion aims at studying strain partitioning and strain decoupling processes acting within the Adriabukta Formation in Hornsund during the Ellesmerian and Eurekan orogenies, and at refining the age of the Adriabukta Formation, which thus far was dated through palynological study of three samples with poorly preserved assemblages. The proposed excursion will log and sample the top and base of the Adriabukta Formation for palynological analysis and will gather structural measurements, e.g., of fold axes, brittle faults and cleavage within the Adriabukta Formation to try to differentiate Ellesmerian structures from Eurekan structures and provide constraints on the onset of Ellesmerian contraction in Svalbard and on the processes that dominated during these tectonic events. The project is an integral part of my postdoc project at the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics at the University of Oslo, which aims at reconstructing plate tectonics in the Paleozoic, especially in Arctic regions.

Funding scheme:

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum