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Journal article

Reconstructions of the continents around the North Atlantic at about the 60th parallel

  • Torsvik, Trond H. VISTA, c/o Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway - Institute for Petroleum Technology and Applied Geophysics, Trondheim, Norway
  • Van der Voo, Rob Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
  • Meert, Joseph G. VISTA, c/o Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway - Department of Geography and Geology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, USA
  • Mosar, Jon VISTA, c/o Geological Survey of Norway, Leiv Eiriksonsvei 39, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
  • Walderhaug, Harald J. University of Bergen, Institute of Solid Earth Physics, Bergen, Norway
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    13.04.2001
Published in:
  • Earth and Planetary Science Letters. - 2001, vol. 187, no. 1-2, p. 55-69
North Atlantic
apparent polar wandering
reconstruction
paleogeography
extension
English Late Carboniferous–Early Tertiary apparent polar wander (APW) paths (300–40 Ma) for North America and Europe have been tested in various reconstructions. These paths demonstrate that the 500 fathom Bullard et al. fit is excellent from Late Carboniferous to Late Triassic times, but the continental configuration in northern Pangea changed systematically between the Late Triassic (ca. 214 Ma) and the Mid-Jurassic (ca. 170 Ma) due to pre-drift extension. Best fit North Atlantic reconstructions minimize differences in the Late Carboniferous–Early Jurassic and Late Cretaceous–Tertiary segments of the APW paths, but an enigmatic difference exists in the paths for most of the Jurassic, whereas for the Early Cretaceous the data from Europe are nearly non-existent. Greenland’s position is problematic in a Bullard et al. fit, because of a Late Triassic–Early Jurassic regime of compression (>300 km) that would be inherently required for the Norwegian Shelf and the Barents Sea, but which is geologically not defensible. We suggest a radically new fit for Greenland in between Europe and North America in the Early Mesozoic. This fit keeps Greenland ‘locked’ to Europe for the Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic and maintains a reconstruction that better complies with the offshore geological history of the Norwegian Shelf and the Barents Sea. Pre-drift (A24) extension amounted to approximately 450 km on the Mid-Norwegian Shelf but with peak extension in the Late Cretaceous.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Géosciences
Language
  • English
Classification
Geology
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/299623
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