Vendian stratigraphy and sedimentology of the East Greenland Caledonides

Abstract

The present two-year programme 1984-1985 on the Vendian Tillite Group in central East Greenland follows comprehensive investigations on similar sequences in eastern Svalbard. The project aims to establish through Vendian time the disposition of land masses and oceans in relation to the East Greenland depositional environment, and to erect detailed stratigraphic correlations with other parts of the North Atlantic - Arctic region. This is important for understanding the tectonic evolution of the region prior to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. The work is a collaborative venture involving N. Abrahamsen (University of Aarhus, palaeomagnetism), G. Bylund (University of Lund, palaeomagnetism), A. H. Knoll (Harvard University, biostratigraphy), A. M. Spencer (Statoil, sedimentology), K. Swett (University of Iowa, sedimentology of bounding rock units) and G. Vidal (University of Lund, biostratigraphy). The authors were accompanied in the 1984 field season by Bylund and Vidal who undertook extensive sampling of the Late Proterozoic to Early Palaeozoic sequence.