Early Tertiary volcanic rocks from eastern Disko and south-eastern Nûgssuaq

Abstract

As part of an integrated study of the interaction between sedimentary and volcanic facies in the Cretaceous-Tertiary West Greenland basin, early Tertiary extrusive and intrusive basic igneous rocks have been investigated in eastern Disko and south-eastern Nûgssuaq (fig. 1). The volcanic activity started in the early Tertiary. It was centred in the western regions of Disko and Nûgssuaq and west of the present land areas, and consequently western Disko and western Nûgssuaq have a thick and complete volcanic succession, the Vaigat and Maligât Formations (Hald & Pedersen, 1975; Pedersen, 1975a, 1985). The coeval deposits in the eastern part of the basin are clastic sediments of the Upper Atanikerdluk Formation (Koch, 1959). With time, the volcanic deposits prograded eastwards, and eventually the whole area was covered by a coherent basalt plateau. The present study attempts to extend the established volcanic stratigraphy from western Disko and the geological map sheets 1:100 000 Qutdligssat (published in 1976) and Mellemfjord (published in 1987) into eastern Disko and eastern Nûgssuaq where volcanic rocks and sediments interfinger.