Dyke intrusions along the south coast of Disko

Abstract

The south and south-west coast of Disko from Mellemfjord to Godhavn provides a more than 70 km long section through the early Tertiary plateau basalts of West Greenland. It forms the south-westernmost on-shore part of a large lava plateau known to extend far off-shore (Park et al., 1971; Denham, 1974; Clarke, 1975). This paper reports briefly the results of a week's reconnaissance, where dyke intrusions along the entire coast and in the fjords, from Godhavn to Eqaluit (Nordre Laksebugt) were investigated. Similar observations from Eqaluit to Mellemfjord are also reported. The purpose of the reconnaissance was to obtain information on the magmatic evolution of rocks younger than the exposed lavas, to search for native iron bearing intrusions of possibie economic importance and to investigate the dyke intensity and intrusion pattern. The area has been investigated by Giesecke (1823), Rink (1853), Steenstrup (1882, 1883, 1900), Krueger (1928a, b), Drever & Livingstone (1948), Munck & Noe-Nygaard (1957), Deutch & Kristjansson (1974) and Fundal (1975) but apart from the surroundings of Godhavn, the information is very scarce. To the west of Godhavn, the native iron bearing dyke of Uivfaq has been the subject of numerous studies [see bibliographies in Bøggild (1953), Vaasjoki (1965), Pauly (1969) and Fundal (1975)]. This occurrence will not be mentioned further.