TECTONICS AND STRATIGRAPHY IN THE NE GREENLAND ATLANTIC MARGIN

The eastern Greenland can be divided into the north, central and south section according to the regional geological settings. The plate tectonic evolution and lithofacies palaeogeography can reveal that the Greenland and Norway Atlantic margin have a similar geologic environment since Devonian. Based on the plate tectonic evolution and lithofacies palaeogeography research, the eastern Greenland reveals the following structural and sedimentary characteristics. (1) The Greenland sea is mainly sandstone sediment in all sections and some volcanics in the south section during Silurian. During the Devonian and early Carboniferous sedimentary interval/unconformity or conglomerate appears caused by the Caledonian Orogeny, but in the north and south section there are some sandstone and mudstone during middle Devonian and early Carboniferous. (2) During late Carboniferous and early Permian, the central and north section are mainly sandstone and mudstone while there is a sedimentary interval in the south section. (3) From the late Permian, the eastern Greenland is mainly the sandstone and mudstone, while in the south section, there are some carbonate sediment during Cretaceous and the volcanics during Eocene. (4) The evaporate locates in the western and central Barents sea during late Carboniferous and early Permian, in the central and south section in the late Permian, and in the central section and partly north section in the middle Permian. The Oceanic Drilling Program (ODP) data show that the Greenland sea is mainly the mudstone since Miocene and the thickness is over 1000 m in the north and central section. The Quaternary outcrop can be found while the volcanic outcrop seldom appears in the north section and the regional cross section shows the sediment continuity seawards. The Voring basin are mainly the Jurassic-Cretaceous sandstone plays, the Devonian sandstone can be found in the Faroes-Shetland Trough and the middle Triassic sandstone and Devonian mudstone/shale source rock appears in the Barents Platform. Thus, the Devonian and the Triassic to Jurassic / Cretacesous sandstone can be the main exploration targets in the future.