A seismic reflection study of northern Baffin Bay: implication for tectonic evolution

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 2353-2369 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Ruth Jackson ◽  
Kate Dickie ◽  
François Marillier
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Plate Motions ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic Development ◽  
Rifted Margin

Reflection profiles offshore of Baffin Island, south of Lancaster Sound, reveal coast-parallel half-grabens containing flat-lying sedimentary sections typical of a rifted margin. In northernmost Baffin Bay, adjacent to Devon and southern Ellesmere islands, four sedimentary basins are identified. In these basins the sedimentary sections are faulted, folded, and laterally discontinuous. The basement shows linear trends, steep faults, and abrupt variations in depth. In one basin a 50 km long and 10 km wide "flower structure" is observed. A transpressive tectonic regime is suggested to explain the uplifted sedimentary and basement section and the change in depth to basement across it. A 150 km long paleoshelf, buried by a thickening sedimentary wedge, is present offshore of Devon Island. Because strike-slip and compressional features are observed on seismic profiles north of Lancaster Sound and extensional features are observed to the south, differences in the plate tectonic development are inferred. The interpretations of the seismic reflection records are shown to be compatible with plate motions determined by matching magnetic anomalies in the North Atlantic, the Labrador Sea, the Norwegian and Greenland seas, and the Eurasia Basin. In addition, the onshore geology of Baffin Island, Labrador, and Greenland is consistent with the predrift position of the plates.

LANCASTER SOUND SHIPBORNE MAGNETOMETER SURVEY

1966 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Vertical Movement ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Total Field ◽  
Sharp Rise ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
The North ◽  
Half Graben

The total magnetic field and the depth of water were measured along a ship's track of about 1 000 nautical miles during a shipborne magnetometer survey in Lancaster Sound and Baffin Bay in the eastern part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.Several magnetic anomalies on the extreme northern and southern boundaries of Lancaster Sound as well as to the east of Devon Island in Baffin Bay are characteristic of near-surface features. There is little magnetic relief in the center of the sound. The intensity of the total field decreases from south to north and then rises sharply immediately south of Devon Island. This sharp rise trends northeasterly in Baffin Bay.Several features are indicated by these data; (1) a near-surface basement on Devon and Baffin Islands, (2) a basement flexure north of Baffin Island, the whole of Lancaster Sound being downwarped with vertical movement of as much as 8 km in the north, (3) a regional fault extending along the south coast of Devon Island and trending northeast in Baffin Bay.It is concluded that this half-graben structure in. Lancaster Sound may be associated with a postulated median ridge between Greenland and North America.

Style and intensity of late Cenozoic deformation in the Nagoorin Basin (eastern Queensland, Australia) and implications for the pattern of strain in an intraplate setting

2018 ◽  
Vol 156 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-619
Author(s):  
ABBAS BABAAHMADI ◽  
GIDEON ROSENBAUM ◽  
RENATE SLIWA ◽  
JOAN ESTERLE ◽  
MOJTABA RAJABI
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Reverse Fault ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
The North ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Oil Shales ◽  
Far Field Stress

AbstractEastern Australia was affected by late Cenozoic intraplate deformation in response to far-field stress transmitted from the plate boundaries, but little is known about the intensity and pattern of this deformation. We used recently surveyed two-dimensional seismic reflection lines and aeromagnetic data, and data from the recently released Australian Stress Map, to investigate the structure of the Nagoorin Basin in eastern Queensland. The western margin of the Nagoorin beds was displaced by the Boynedale Fault, which is a NNW-striking SW-dipping oblique strike-slip reverse fault with a vertical throw ofc.900 m andc.16 km sinistral displacement. A significant part of this large sinistral displacement is interpreted to have occurred prior to late Cenozoic time. Several low-angle (<30°) thin-skinned thrusts with a flat-ramp geometry also displaced the Nagoorin beds, which are interpreted to have developed along detachment surfaces in oil shales and claystone. The Boynedale Fault is a segment within longer NNW-striking faults that include the North Pine and West Ipswich fault systems in eastern Queensland. These NNW-striking faults are potentially active, and may accommodate neotectonic thrust movement in response to the present-day NE–SW orientation of SHmax. Results of this study, in conjunction with previous information on sedimentary basins in eastern Australia, indicate that Cenozoic contractional deformation is stronger at the continental margins, possibly due to the presence of pre-existing rift-related structures.

Geophysical Studies in Baffin Bay and some Tectonic Implications

1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Keen ◽  
D. L. Barrett ◽  
K. S. Manchester ◽  
D. I. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Spreading Center ◽  
Labrador Sea ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Definitive Evidence ◽  
Nares Strait ◽  
The North

A recent seismic refraction experiment in the deep central region of Baffin Bay showed that it is underlain by oceanic crust. This paper describes the results of gravity, magnetic, and seismic reflection profiling measurements in the bay. There is no definitive evidence for a buried ridge or for magnetic lineations in the center of the area. The magnetic and gravity anomaly fields have been used to define the boundary between the oceanic and continental crust around the bay and therefore the extent of oceanic crust presumed to have been formed by sea-floor spreading. Some of the characteristics of the seismic reflection lines across the continental margins, perhaps typical of this area, are also discussed. The results have been used to reconstruct the history of opening of Baffin Bay in conjuction with geophysical measurements in the Labrador Sea to the south and over the Alpha Ridge in the Arctic Ocean to the north. An attempt has been made to reconcile the geometry of opening with continental geology. Two phases of spreading are suggested. The first involves openings, in both the Labrador Sea and in Baffin Bay, about a pole in the Canadian Arctic Islands. The second, most recent stage of opening, requires that the Nares Strait was once a transform fault, perhaps connecting a Baffin Bay spreading center to the Alpha Ridge to the north.

Seismic stratigraphy of the East-Siberian and Chukchi seas as a key to the Amerasia Basin stratigraphy end evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kseniia Startseva ◽  
Anatoly Nikishin
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Geological Structure ◽  
Seismic Survey ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
The North ◽  
Sea Bottom ◽  
Reported Study ◽  
Bottom Sampling

&lt;p&gt;Based on new seismic survey, offshore drilling and geological structure of the adjacent onshore a new model of geological evolution of sedimentary basins of the East-Siberian and Chukchi seas since the Mesozoic has been constructed. The main stages of their tectonic history are highlighted: 1) forming of the foreland basin in Jurassic &amp;#8211; Early Creatceous time; 2) synrift extension in Aptian-Albian time; 3) start of postrift subsidence in Later Cretaceous; 4) uplift and deformations at the turn of Cretaceous and Paleogene, start of forming of the thick (up to 4-6 km) clinoform complex; 5) episode of synrift extension in Middle-Later Eocene, forming of the system of multiple low-amplitude normal faults; 6) inversion deformations in Oligocene-Miocene; 7) relatively calm tectonic conditions in Neogene-Quaternary time. Boundaries of the interpreted seismic complexes corresponding to these stages has been extended to the entire Amerasia basin with regards to the ages of magnetic anomalies in the Gakkel Ridge and sea-bottom sampling on the Mendeleev Rise. Volcanic areas of the De Long Islands and the North Wrangel High has been traced on the seismic profiles toward Mendeleev Rise and Podvodnikov Basin and dated as &amp;#177;125 Ma. According to the seismic interpretation, the age of the Podvodnikov and Toll basins is not older than Aptian. The reported study was funded by RFBR and NSFB, project number 18-05-70011, 18-05-00495 and 18-35-00133.&lt;/p&gt;

Borden dykes of Baffin Island, Northwest Territories: a Franklin U-Pb baddeleyite age and a paleomagnetic reinterpretation

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally J Pehrsson ◽  
Kenneth L Buchan
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Remanent Magnetization ◽  
Paleomagnetic Data ◽  
Dyke Swarm ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Normal Faulting ◽  
Polar Wander ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
The North ◽  
Chemical Remanent Magnetization

U-Pb baddeleyite geochronology for two Borden diabase dykes of northern Baffin Island gives an intrusion age of ca. 720 Ma, coeval with the age established elsewhere for the Franklin igneous event. Thus, the Borden dykes belong to the Franklin dyke swarm, rather than forming a separate swarm that intruded at ca. 950-900 Ma, as has been suggested previously on the basis of paleomagnetism and K-Ar ages. As a result, the paleopole from the Borden dykes can no longer be utilized to help constrain the ca. 1050-850 Ma Grenville Loop of the North American polar wander path. Reevaluation of paleomagnetic data for the dykes of northern Baffin Island suggests that Borden dyke magnetizations resulted from superposition of a steeply directed component of chemical remanent magnetization on normal and reversed primary Franklin components. The overprint direction is consistent with a Cretaceous-Tertiary age and is likely related to normal faulting and graben development during the opening of Baffin Bay.

Structural Characteristics of some Sedimentary Basins in Northern Baffin Bay

1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1267-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Keen ◽  
D. L. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Magnetic Measurements ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Gravity Data ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Baffin Bay

Geophysical measurements along tracks crossing some of the main structural features of the northern Baffin Bay shelf are described. The data consist of seismic reflection, seismic refraction, gravity, and magnetic measurements. Results in four areas—Lancaster Sound, Melville Bay, Smith Sound and Jones Sound—are presented. Magnetic and gravity data are used to define the extent of sedimentary basins in these areas. Seismic reflection measurements delineate the structural characteristics of the upper 2 km of the sedimentary strata and allow comparisons between them to be made. Seismic refraction measurements show that the upper 2 km of sediment exhibit low velocities—less than 3.2 km/s. Little deformation of the sediments is observed in any of these areas, however, the strata in Lancaster Sound and in the Melville Bay graben appear to have experienced less faulting than those in Jones Sound and Smith Sound. Normal faults are characteristic of the latter two areas. Jones Sound is a structurally complex area and is filled by a lesser thickness of sediments than is found in the other basins. These sediments are terminated near the entrance to the sound by Precambrian basement. A deeper sedimentary basin occupies Smith Sound and trends across the Nares Strait lineament. Although the data are insufficient to allow a detailed structural analysis of the strata in these regions, we speculate that the differences in sedimentary structures can be related to the formation of the Baffin Bay ocean basin.

21.—The History of the North Water

1972 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moira Dunbar ◽  
M. J. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Open Water ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
The West ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
The North ◽  
Open Sea ◽  
Bylot Island ◽  
North Water ◽  
North Part ◽  
History Of

In 1616 William Baffin, coasting up the icebound west coast of Greenland, reported: ‘The first of July we were come into an open sea, in the latitude of 75 degrees 40 minutes, which a new revived our hope of a passage…’ (Purchas 1625). From this point, at an unspecified longitude in the north part of Melville Bay, he cruised for 12 days in open water, up the Greenland coast to 77°30'N and down the west side of Baffin Bay to Bylot Island, seeing and naming on the way Smith, Jones, and Lancaster sounds. From Bylot Island south he found ‘a ledge of ice between the shoare and us’ as he continued past Pond Inlet and down the coast of Baffin Island. This is the first mention in written records, and the first known navigation, of an area that became well known two centuries later as the ‘North Water’.

scholarly journals 3D-STRUCTURES WITH INTEGRATION GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL DATA: IMPLICATION FOR RESEARCH WATER RESOURCES IN TUNISIA: CASE OF BOTH SE JEFFARA AND UTIQUE BASIN, TUNISIA

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Sofienalyahyaoui ◽  
Hedi Zouari ◽  
Hakim Gabtni ◽  
Chokri Jallouli
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Hot Spring ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Subsurface Structures ◽  
The North ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
Petroleum Wells

Tunisia is enriched by many natural resources (natural water and geothermal water) that are located along the South to the North. This paper aims mainly to evaluate the resources water potential. The available remote sensing images for two typical examples (SE Jeffara basin and Utique basin) are analyzed and many seismic profiles are interpreted to delineate the surface and subsurface structures.  The 3-D structures of Mio-Plio-Quaternary and Upper Cretaceous aquifers in South-East of Jeffara basin show an important reservoirs of water resources. The Upper Cretaceous aquifer "Complexe Terminal" is one of the most typical examples of exploitation features in hydrogeological research. It is formed by fractured limestones.  The 3D-structure of Utique basin shows an important variation of thickness of Mio-Plio-Quaternary and Triassic series. The Mio-Plio-Quaternary series is formed by sand, clays and gypsum. The Triassic series is considered typical example for research the hydrogeological and hydrothermal water in Tunisia, especially in the North. In the subsurface, the triassic aquifer of Utique regions is formed by carbonates series. The hot spring in Utique basin is directly related to the Triassic dolostones which are extensively fractured [1].  A geophysical survey was undertaken for groundwater in Tunisia. The interpretation of seismic reflection sections and petroleum wells allowed to precise the geometry in subsurface structure.

scholarly journals Chronology of thrust propagation from an updated tectono-sedimentary framework of the Miocene molasse (western Alps)

Solid Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2735-2771
Author(s):  
Amir Kalifi ◽  
Philippe Hervé Leloup ◽  
Philippe Sorrel ◽  
Albert Galy ◽  
François Demory ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
The North ◽  
Deformation Kinematics ◽  
Westward Migration ◽  
And Migration

Abstract. After more than a century of research, the chronology of the deformation of the external part of the western Alpine belt (France) is still controversial for the Miocene epoch. In particular, the poor dating of the foreland basin sedimentary succession hampers a comprehensive understanding of the deformation kinematics. Here we focus on the Miocene molasse deposits of the northern subalpine massifs, southern Jura, Royans, Bas-Dauphiné, Crest, and La Bresse sedimentary basins through a multidisciplinary approach to build a basin-wide tectono-stratigraphic framework. Based on sequence stratigraphy constrained by biostratigraphical, chemostratigraphical (Sr isotopes), and magnetostratigraphical data between the late Aquitanian (∼ 21 Ma) and the Tortonian (∼ 8.2 Ma), the Miocene molasse chronostratigraphy is revised with a precision of ∼ 0.5 Ma. The Miocene molasse sediments encompass four different paleogeographical domains: (i) the oriental domain outlined by depositional sequences S1a to S3 (∼ 21 to ∼ 15 Ma), (ii) the median domain characterized by sequences S2 to S5 (∼ 17.8 to ∼ 12 Ma), (iii) the occidental domain in which sequences S2a to S8 (∼ 17.8 to ∼ 8.2 Ma) were deposited, and (iv) the Bressan domain where sedimentation is restricted to sequences S6 to S8 (∼ 12 to ∼ 8.2 Ma). A structural and tectono-sedimentary study is conducted based on new field observations and the reappraisal of regional seismic profiles, thereby allowing the identification of five major faults zones (FZs). The oriental, median, and occidental paleogeographical domains are clearly separated by FZ1, FZ2, and FZ3, suggesting strong interactions between tectonics and sedimentation during the Miocene. The evolution in time and space of the paleo-geographical domains within a well-constrained structural framework reveals syntectonic deposits and a westward migration of the depocenters, allowing for proposing the succession of three deformation phases at the western Alpine front. (i) The first is a compressive phase (P1) corresponding to thrusting above the Chartreuse oriental thrust (FZ1), which was likely initiated during the Oligocene and rooted east of Belledonne. This tectonic phase generated reliefs that limited the Miocene transgression to the east. (ii) The second is a ∼ WNW–ESE-directed compressive phase (P2) lasting between 18.05 ± 0.25 Ma and ∼ 12 Ma, with thrusts rooted in the Belledonne basal thrust. Thrusts were activated from east to west: the Salève (SAL) and Gros Foug (GF) thrusts and then successively FZ2, FZ3, FZ4, and FZ5. Along two WNW–ESE balanced cross sections the amount of horizontal shortening is of ∼ 6.3 to 6.7 km, corresponding to average shortening rates of ∼ 1.2 km Myr−1 and migration of the deformation toward the west at a rate of ∼ 2.9 km Myr−1. During ∼ 6 Myr, the Miocene Sea was forced to regress rapidly westwards in response to westward migration of the active thrusts and exhumation of piggyback basins atop the fault zones. Phase P2 thus deeply shaped the Miocene paleogeo-graphical evolution of the area and appears as a prominent compressive phase at the scale of the western Alps from the Swiss molasse basin to the Rhodano–Provencal one. (iii) The third is a ∼ 300 m phase of uplift in the Bas-Dauphiné (P3) of probable Tortonian age (∼ 10 Ma), which would have induced southward sea retreat and been coeval with the folding of the Jura in the north and possibly with back-thrusting east of the Chartreuse massif.

Latest Quaternary and Holocene paleoceanography of the eastern Baffin Island continental shelf, Canada: benthic foraminiferal evidence

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2236-2248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa E. Osterman ◽  
Alan R. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
The South ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
The North ◽  
Postglacial History ◽  
Foraminiferal Species ◽  
Organic Sediment ◽  
Shelf Sediments

Foraminiferal zones, radiocarbon ages on shells, and corrected ages on pretreated organic sediment from four cores from the eastern Baffin Island continental shelf suggest a three-stage deglacial to postglacial history (Late Wisconsin to Holocene). The earliest sediments in the cores contain foraminiferal species (Elphidium excavatum, Cassidulina reniforme, Islandiella helenae) indicative of distal glaciomarine environments that lasted at least several thousand years. An oceanographic change about 8500 years ago is indicated by a Melonis zaandamae zone in northern and central shelf cores collected from 200–800 m water depth. The presence of M. zaandamae in the north and its absence in the south suggest warmer and more saline postglacial water in northern Baffin Bay, whose influence became diluted with cooler coastal meltwater as the current flowed south along the Baffin Island Shelf. Sediments after 6000 years ago on the northern and central shelf are dominated by agglutinated foraminifera, suggesting dissolution of calcareous species. This dissolution event, which affected deeper water cores sooner than cores from the shelf, may be related to the influx of cold, CO2-rich water from the Arctic Ocean during the mid-Holocene. Thus, postglacial oceanographic changes in Baffin Bay appear first in deep northern waters; the lag time in the response to these changes in the shallower water on the shelf and to the south may have been as long as several thousand years.

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