Structural geology of central Peary Land, North Greenland

Abstract

The region investigated in 1978 between Jørgen Brønlund Fjord - Øvre Midsommersø in the south and Frederick E. Hyde Fjord in the north consists of c. 1½ km thiekness of Lower Palaeozoic carbonates overlain by an up to 1 km thick series of Silurian flysch (Christie & Peel, 1977). In general the region is part of the Palaeozoic platform that ean be divided into three major E-W trending physiographic belts: a southern belt where the carbonates form plateaus incised by steep valleys, a central belt consisting of characteristic conical mountains marked by concentric terraces of resistant sandstone beds in the flyseh (Dawes, 1976, fig. 249), and in the fold belt to the north the mountains rise up to altitudes of 1000-1500 m and are covered by extensive ice caps (fig. 17). The southern border of the region, the Øvre Midsommersø - Jørgen Brønlund Fjord area, was mapped by Jepsen (1971) while the Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy in the central part af the region has been established by Christie & Peel (1977) at Børglum Elv. Some structural aspects af the gealogy at Frederick E. Hyde Fjord are briefly described by Dawes (1971) and Dawes & Soper (1973). Prior to the field work a comprehensive photogeological interpretation was carried out on vertical aerial photographs (seale c. 1:60000) and compiled on six uneontoured l: 100000 photomosaic maps. The 1978 field work and laboratory studies using a Kern PG 2 photogrammetric instrument form the first detailed study of the fold belt margin. For descriptive purposes the region investigated in 1978 has been subdivided into seven areas (fig. 17), the main struetural features of which form the basis of this report.