Ordovician(?) gastropods from cherts in Cretaceous sandstone, south-east Disko, central West Greenland

Abstract

Field work by AKP during 1984 on south-east Disko included a brief re-investigation of an unusual assemblage of clasts found in the Upper Cretaceous sandstones of the Atane Formation. These clasts were first found by Giesecke in 1807 (Giesecke, 1910) and subsequently briefly characterised by Schiener (1974, p. 25) as "a characteristic marker assemblage of ex- otic components (acid subaerial volcanics, red and black cherts, pisolites and chertified limestones)". Schiener (1977) tentatively correlated the clasts with Early Cretaceous rhyolitic tuffs from Ivnakavsak on northern Nugssuaq. Below, we briefly describe gastropods found in the clasts, as well as the clast lithologies. Several types of the chert clasts have begun to attract local interest as potential semi-precious stones.